Coincidence or Destiny?
by Arisa Aihara
Summary: Optimistic new girl in town Hikari Yagami was trying her best to adjust to her new environment, especially at school. However, things were made difficult by a cold, unfriendly classmate of hers. Exactly what was his problem?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **Standard disclaimers apply! If I owned Digimon, I'd tie up every loose end (i.e. confirm all married couples, lol)!

**Summary: **Moving to a new town didn't stop Hikari from being an optimist. She tries to make friends and get used to Odaiba, but a certain cold-hearted blonde classmate was making it hard for her. Things became worse when the two were involved in countless events together. Coincidence, or destiny?

**A/N: **I'm only just experimenting…

* * *

1. Just moved in.

Yagami Hikari had been up since four in the morning, and she had been staring out her window ever since. She saw the sunrise, and she listened as the town slowly 'woke up' - a new day has begun. And for her, it wasn't just a new day. It was a new day in a new town.

She got up and took a shower in the new bathroom of the new apartment, and she took her time choosing the right attire to wear for that day. She wanted to make a good first impression to everyone she was about to meet at her new school that day, so it was only natural that it took her quite some time to get dressed. Once she was done, she grabbed her stuff, and exited her room, only to tiptoe into the room next to hers.

Hikari ignored the large warning sign pasted on the door of said room (the sign read, "KEEP OUT IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" in large, red letters written using a crayon), and she made her way quietly towards the bed. She took a spare pillow as quietly as she could before throwing it to the sleeping figure under the blanket.

"Oniicha~n!Get up! _Get up!_ It's our first day at our new schools! You don't wanna be late, TAAAA-III-CHIII!"

Her one and only brother groaned and threw the pillow back at her before rolling to the other side to continue his sleep. "Dear God, all I ask for is a peaceful sleep session, and for puppy-sized elephants," groaned Yagami Taichi, "and since you _can't _give me puppy-sized elephants, can't you just PLEASE let me have a good night sl-"

"C'mon, stop grumbling, oniichan. Mum wants us to walk to school together," Hikari said, throwing the pillow back at Taichi, "but if you don't want to, I'm fine with it. See you later! Good luck finding your way to school!"

With that, she went on ahead, not bothering to wait for Taichi. But when she was climbing down the stairs (the elevator was out of order), Taichi came racing towards her, looking very untidy.

"That…was…_really…_unfair!" he panted.

"Well, congratulations, Sleepy Head, you're finally up," she said teasingly. "C'mon, to school! To school!"

The Yagami family had just moved in to Odaiba. It was a nice town, in Hikari's opinion, and she was excited to meet new friends. It might come across as a little weird for someone to actually _enjoy _moving away, but that was how she honestly felt. There's no point in mourning, as she had always said, so why not make the best of everything? Her parents were slightly worried at first, seeing her being all chirpy, but they were grateful for it later - Taichi, who was three years her senior, had thrown a kind of tantrum and had refused to talk to anyone when he discovered that they were moving - and one tantrum was definitely enough!

"I don't get it," Taichi said as the two of them walking down the street towards their new schools, "how can you be so..._cheerful _all the time?"

Hikari shrugged. "I'm not always cheerful, niichan," she said, "but I always try my best to be happy. I mean, being sad and depressed is not good.

"Yeah, yeah...whatever, Miss Psychology..."

She merely laughed at this. "Come on, Taichi, cheer up. You might meet other soccer freaks here - so chill!"

This had actually managed to cheer her brother up a little, and he was actually grinning like his old self again as they parted ways - he headed off to his school, looking both excited and nervous - and Hikari said goodbye and good luck to him before going off to her own school. She made her way towards the Principal's office first, and along the way, she managed to get the general layout of the school.

The principal was a friendly chubby man in his late forties. The usual greetings were exchanged, and later, the principal asked his secretary to show her to her new class.

"The kids here are generally good kids," the secretary informed her as they made their way up some stairs. "Sure, there are a few delinquents, but as long as you stay out of trouble, you'll be fine. Here we are."

The secretary stopped in from of a classroom and knocked on the door thrice. Hikari could hear the lecture inside the class stopping abruptly and soon after, the door swung open, revealing a tall woman.

"Hello, Miss Miyamori," said the secretary. "This is your new student, she just moved in."

Hikari bowed. "Hello."

"Oh, hello!" said Miss Miyamori with a smile. "Thank you so much for showing her the way, Mrs. Taka. I'll take it from here."

The secretary bowed and left, and the teacher, Miss Miyamori, ushered Hikari inside.

"Students! We have a new friend joining us today," said Miss Miyamori as she closed the door of the classroom. A low buzz of excitement began to fill the classroom as everyone turned their attention towards Hikari. Miss Miyamori went back to her seat and looked at some of Hikari's old school records. "She's from Hinode, Tokyo and had just moved in. Please welcome, Yagami Hikari."

Hikari bowed. "Good morning."

Her new classmates greeted her in a mixture of different enthusiasm. Some had bright smiles on their faces, and some had the, "Meh, whatever" expression on.

"Right. Class monitor?" the teacher called. A girl with dark wavy hair stood up. "Please make sure that Miss Yagami feels welcome, eh?"

"Yes, Miss Miyamori," said the girl with a smile.

"Miss Yagami, you may sit…ah wait, all desks are occupied. Hmm, let's see, let's see…" The teacher looked around the class, and then her eyes caught something that made her good mood change. Hikari looked, too, and saw exactly what it was that had bothered the teacher so much: a blond boy who sat at the very back of the class wasn't paying attention at all. Instead, he had his eyes shut and was leaning against the chair at ease, clearly asleep. His even had his earphones on, and in an instant, Hikari knew that the guy hadn't been listening to the teacher's new announcement _and _to what the teacher was teaching before Hikari came in.

The whole class followed the teacher's gaze, and the small buzz that had been going on since Hikari entered the class began to die down.

"Well, Miss Yagami, it seems like _someone_ isn't so welcoming in this class," said Miss Miyamori before barking in a loud voice, "TAKAISHI!"

The blond boy opened his eyes slowly, frowning. Hikari noticed that he had a pair of amazingly beautiful blue eyes, but those eyes looked…_cold._ And even when he saw the class's _'you're screwed!'_ looks; he still looked incredibly calm (yet his face was mixed with visible annoyance).

"So. How far away did the clouds carry you? Hmm?" the teacher said in a dangerously casual voice.

Hikari did not expect him to reply, but he did. "Over the hills and far away," said he.

This was the last straw. "TAKAISHI, I WANT YOU TO BRING A DESK AND A CHAIR FOR MISS YAGAMI! THERE ARE SOME IN THE UNUSED CLASSROOMS! GO!"

The boy stood up quietly, and went. The class was still very quiet.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that," said Miss Miyamori, sounding as if she was trying to suppress her anger. "Been trying to deal with _that _one since forever...I hope you don't mind my little...well... Right. Please wait until Takaishi comes back, Miss Yagami… Now, back to our lesson…"

Hikari had to wait for about ten minutes before her new desk and seat came into the class. The Takaishi boy brought the desk first, and then went to get the chair. Since there was not much space left, he had to set the desk next to his own. He then settled down on his chair once more.

"And I'll have those earphones, thank you," said Miss Miyamori as she saw the Takaishi boy took out his earphones. Rolling his eyes, he stood up, went to the front of the class to hand over the item, and headed back to his seat. He now looked positively pissed.

"U-umm...thank you for the, uh, desk and chair, by the way," Hikari said with a smile, but the guy didn't seem to hear her.

Or was he ignoring her?

"_Well…I'll say sorry after this," _she thought.

**-X-**

Mis Miyamori's class had ended, and the next teacher wasn't there yet, so naturally, the class began to grow noisy. A few girls had introduced themselves to Hikari, and they even managed to exchange e-mail addresses. Everything was going smoothly, except for one thing: Hikari had been stealing glances at the blond student sitting next to her (it appeared he had a backup pair of earphones, for he now had them on once more), but his face seemed so cold and so unwelcoming that she hadn't the courage to say thanks and/or sorry to him. He was minding his won business by staring out the window quietly.

"Hi, Hikari," came a girl's voice, and Hikari took her eyes off the boy. It was the class monitor.

"Oh, hi," she said, smiling.

"I'm the class monitor, Nakamura Miharu," she said, offering her hand and Hikari shook it. "Doing all right?"

"Well — um, yes, I am," said Hikari, a little hesitantly. However, Miharu seemed to know what was bothering her.

"Just ignore Takeru," she said. Upon seeing her puzzled face, Miharu nodded at the blond boy. "He's Takaishi Takeru, the 'loner' of this class. Every class has one, right?"

"Two in my old class," Hikari said.

"Now _that _must've been awful!" said Miharu, grinning. "Well, _this_ one never really talks much, but he will if people ask him things that he has to answer — or if someone picks up a fight with him."

_O…kaaay, this guy is something. _"I…well…you know, the desk and the chair thingy…"

"Well, it _was _his fault," said Miharu, rolling her eyes. Hikari smiled a little, but before she could say anything, a loud voice interrupted.

"Hiya, Yagami Hikari!"

Turning around, she saw a boy with spiky hair skipping towards her. Miharu sort of groaned, and folded her arms.

" Uh - hello there," Hikari replied.

"I'm Motomiya Daisuke, nice to meet you!" he said, shaking her hand. He had this energetic personality, and he reminded Hikari a little bit of Taichi.

"Nice to meet you too, Motomiya Daisuke...did - did you have Red Bull for breakfast or anything?" Hikari asked with a slight giggle.

"Hehe - ah! Please, call me Daisuke-kun," said he, now grinning rather sheepishly.

"Um, hello? I was _talking, _Daisuke. It's rude to interrupt!" snapped Miharu. "Anyway," she said, turning back to Hikari, "this is our class timetable and the names of our teachers. Also, this is the list of clubs available here for you to attend. I'm in the Broadcast Club and Loser Daisuke is in Soccer Club."

"I'm SO not a loser!" Daisuke protested.

"Whatever," said Miharu absent-mindedly. "Choose one extracurricular club and then tell me so I could hand it off to Miss Miyamori, kay?"

"Okay, gotcha," said Hikari, scanning through the list. _Hmm, let's see…_

_1. Broadcast Club_

_2. Calligraphy Club_

_3. Choir Club_

_4. Dance Club_

_5. Chess Club_

Hikari read the list thoroughly and found two clubs that attracted her attention: the photography club and the school newspaper club.

"Hey, is the photography club okay?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry! It totally slipped off my mind — the Science Club and the Photography Club is full…"

"That's all right — I'll join the newspaper club then," she said happily. And that was settled.

—X—

During lunch break, Miharu and Daisuke were kind enough to show her around. Hikari made friends easily with Miharu's and they all got along pretty well.

"And this is obviously the cafeteria," said Fujiwara Kumiko, one of Miharu's best friends. Beside Kumiko, there's the quiet Harukichi Aida, the tall Saruwatari Michiyo, the talkative-and-cheerful Anami Arisa, and also Abukara Naora. "Oh dang…just look at the line!"

"Better start lining up now, ladies, or we'll have nothing to eat," said Michiyo, and that was what they did. When they had all receive their food, they sat down around a table.

"Go away, Daisuke, this is the girls' table!" said Miharu. After much complaining, and a threat from Naora, Daisuke finally left them alone.

"So! Is there anything you wanna ask?" said Naora before slurping on her fruit juice.

"Umm…not much, but…" Hikari looked over her shoulder. She had noticed Takeru Takaishi before when she was lining up: the guy was eating alone at a table nearby, reading a magazine. She turned back to face her new friends. "I think I need to apologise to him. You know, for the hassle earlier with the desk and chair thing."

"I _told _you it was his own fault," said Miharu absent-mindedly as she munched on her salad.

"Yeah, well — I haven't said thanks," Hikari lied. She _did _say thank you, but he didn't seem to hear it. Or maybe he had ignored it. Nah, he didn't hear it...

Oh, okay, he ignored it! Fine, so what? Maybe he _was_ a little annoyed, she would be too, if she were in his shoes - but he would get over it if she apologised…right?

She stood up and went towards Takaishi's table, carefully choosing her words.

"Er, hello," she said. Takaishi Takeru looked up from the magazine and stared at her with his (oddly cold) blue eyes. She smiled a big smile at him, but he merely returned to his magazine. "I'm sorry. You know. For earlier. And thanks, that must've been heavy, huh?"

He stopped eating and glared up at her. "Miss Yagami: The Queen of Desks and Chairs, huh?"

_Well, touche! The least you could do is laugh at my joke!_

"Well, I told you I'm sorry," Hikari said again, now frowning. The other didn't reply, but instead, he stood up.

"The Queen Of Lunch-Disturbers, too?" he said before walking out of the cafeteria. Hikari watched him go, frowning and gaping, trying to think of an insult to shoot back at him.

WHAT. THE. HECK. IS. WRONG. WITH. THAT. **GUY? **Just accept her goddamn apology! Was it THAT hard?

The first day in a new school, and she'd already make an enemy!

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you've had a fun time reading this! On to chapter two!

**A friendly note: **This story is currently undergoing reconstruction. Nothing much, just editing the grammar and spelling mistakes and such. :) Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Do not own, yada, yada, yada…

**A/N: **Second chapter, w00t!

* * *

2. Takaishi Takeru a.k.a. 'Mr. Ice Cold'.

The encounter with Takaishi Takeru was a nightmare. Hikari couldn't exactly ignore him, because he sat right next to her in class, and unfortunately for her, they both were assigned to watering the flowers on Wednesdays! Of course, he didn't speak a word to her during the task, but she felt very uncomfortable, especially when their eyes accidentally met. His cold blue eyes weren't the ones you'd wish to see every day.

But both Miharu and Daisuke said she should ignore him: Miharu seemed to be just a little irritated by Takaishi Takeru (just like everyone else in the class), but Daisuke seemed to have marked him as his archenemy for some unknown reason. Miharu told her that Takeru was actually better than Daisuke in some aspects.

"To tell you the truth, Takeru _is_ better than everyone in this class," said Miharu with a thoughtful frown. Hikaru faked a laugh.

"Him? Better than all of us?" She laughed again. "Yeah, I'd like to see him beat me in a Grinning Competition. His face always looks as if he drinks vinegar every morning - like _this..._!"

She screwed up her face this way and that until Miharu burst out laughing. They had a fun time abusing him afterwards.

Sure, they had a good time laughing at him, and Hikari never really believed Miharu when she said that Takaishi Takeru was the best in the class. But soon, she got to witness how true Miharu's words were...

One day, their English teacher (a geeky, balding man in his forties) decided to make a spelling bee pop quiz, and though many students moaned and protested, the teacher did it, anyway. He paced up and down the classroom that morning, reading out words for them to write down.

"Eustachian tube," he said. It was the seventh word, and Hikari didn't know if she had all the other six words correct. But she tried her best, anyway. "Unenthusiastically," the teacher went on. He seemed to be enjoying himself though…

After twenty words, he finally asked them to pass the quiz up. But then, it happened again. The teacher, who was now pacing in front of the class, threw a chalk in Takeru's direction. It nearly hit Hikari, but the teacher's aim was pretty good.

"Takaishi! Asleep again! In _my _class!" shrieked the teacher. The blond woke up with his usual frown, and straightened up in his seat. "Come here to the front! NOW!"

Slowly, Takeru obeyed. His tall figure moved to the front of the class and stood next to the teacher.

"Now," said the teacher, looking at him with his hands on his waist, "write those twenty words I just gave, and their meanings! Or I'll flunk your end year examination! GET TO IT!"

Without saying anything or looking at the teacher, Takeru went to the black board and took the chalk with his fine long fingers.

The whole class seemed to be holding their breaths. How on earth was he to write down those twenty words? And their _meanings! _He was asleep! Even though she was starting to hate him more and more, Hikari couldn't help feeling sorry for Takeru. A voice in her head told her to go and help him, but what could _she _do? She wasn't even sure if she knew the words at all...

As he began to write the letter 'a', the teacher barked, "AND PRONOUNCE THEM ALOUD!". Takeru winced at the shout, but then he spelled something on the board with his slightly messy writing.

_Aeciospore_

Then he spoke: "Aeciospore, a spore formed in an aecium."

"And _what _is an aecium?" the teacher hissed.

Takeru paused for a while, and wrote down, _aecium._

"A fruiting body of a rust fungus which the first binucleate spores are formed." Okay, _this_ wasn't in the list of the twenty words. Was he showing off?

He then continued as the teacher didn't say anything. He pronounced the words as he wrote them, and defined them.

_Aerodynamics._

"A science that deals with the motion of gaseous fluids and with the forces acting on bodies that move through such fluids."

_Chemosynthesis._

_Encyclopaedia_

_Imponderableness._

_Semidomestications._

_Eustachian tube._

_Unenthusiastically._

_Tergiversate._

He went on until twenty words were written on the board in his slanting, messy handwriting. He then placed the chalk down, and stood quietly, waiting for the teacher to say something.

"Very well...since you've been so _unenthusiastic" _(the teacher used the English word here) "about my class, you've gotten yourself a det-"

"Lose the _ku, _sensei."

Everyone stared at Takeru. Did he just interrupt the teacher?

"I _beg_ your pardon?"

"Lose the _ku," _he repeated. The teacher was now frowning. "You said _unenthusiasti-ku. _Lose the _ku. _It's _unenthusiastic. _No _ku."_

The teacher seemed as if he had been embarrassed in front of the whole Japan and went very scarlet in the face. "DETENTION! ONE WEEK!" he bellowed before storming out of the classroom. Hikari saw the boy rolling his eyes in pure annoyance and, despite the class's cheering, he exited the class.

"Hey — hey, Takaishi!" Miharu called. "Where are you going? It's not lunch break yet! Come back inside, you!"

But he didn't, of course.

—X—

Takeru skipped four study periods, and Hikari seriously didn't know what she would do if she were in his shoes. The teachers were angry, and he had already received a detention! What more was he asking for?

"And he might get expelled!" Hikari said. They were all in the cafeteria during lunch break.

"Nah," said Harukichi suddenly. "The teachers wouldn't want to do that."

"Why not?"

"Because he's a precious student," said she. "One of the smartest kids around_, _that Takaishi. Wouldn't want to throw away such students, right?"

Hikari paused for a moment. So it was true? He _was _good at everything? Such an annoying guy was actually a genius?

"_Urgh, the world is unfair…" _she thought.

—X—

The next day — _Wednesday! Oh God, WHY? — _Hikari came early to school because Taichi was suddenly so excited about meeting this girl at school. Whatever. It was Hell Day for Hikari, but she had to face it. She hoped that Takeru wouldn't be there yet when she came, but then again that annoying and mysterious Takaishi was always the first person to be present in class. You could see him reading quietly at the back of the class each morning.

That morning wasn't an exception. When Hikari entered the class, she saw the blonde sitting with both of his long legs on the desk, reading something.

_Okay, maybe it's best to be friends…_ Hesitantly, she greeted him. "Ohayo."

He didn't even look up. She sat down and took off her bag. And then she observed him: he was a tall figure, all right, and had athletic features. She'd just realise it now, that he had fair skin - he didn't look like a typical Asian guy...

"What?" came his cold voice.

"Nothing," she said automatically. After glaring at her for a while, he returned to his book. She gave another try. "What're you reading?"

He showed the cover of the book without looking at her: _'Introducing CHAOS'._

"What's it about?"

Sighing a little, he spoke, still not meeting her gaze. "If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, does it cause a tornado in Texas?"

A pause.

"What?" she said, puzzled.

Now he groaned. "The flowers. Time to water them." With that, he stood, snapping the book shut as he did so, and went towards the cupboard to fetch the watering can. He left for the bathroom without once looking back at her.

Hikari made a face, even though she knew he couldn't see it. She then looked at the book he left on the table, and read the back cover of it.

CHAOS

_If a butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, does it cause a tornado in Texas? Chaos, the most important advance science since the advent of Quantum Theory, attempts to answer such baffling questions…_

She gave a low whistle, and opened the book. On the front page was an adult's handwriting:

_Bought by Hiroaki Ishida, on the 21st of October '99_

Okay, so who's Hiroaki Ishida?

She flipped through the book for a while. But then she heard footsteps — probably that guy's back, so she closed the book quickly and went to fetch another watering can. After filling it with water, she returned to the class and found the blond still fussing over the flowerpots outside the class.

She joined him watering the plants. She never really liked gardening, but it wasn't so bad, after all. Kneeling down next to him, she noticed a frown on Takeru's face.

"Why the long face? Hate gardening?" she tried yet again.

Silence.

"Oh, really? Interesting," she said sarcastically, and noticed the other rolling his eyes. Hikari decided to drop it - what's the use? The guy was completely uninterested-

And then —

BAM!

"Ouch!"

"Oww!"

They rubbed their heads, where they had hit each other accidentally. Both of them had aimed for the same flower pot to water, and their heads had accidentally bumped against each other.

"Watch it!"

"_You_ watch it!" Hikari snapped back, rubbing her head furiously. She then registered her shoes being wet, and looked down. Takeru was holding the water container with one hand absent-mindedly while the other hand was busy rubbing his sore head. "You're _washing _my shoes!"

Quickly, he looked and realised it was true. He quickly placed the watering can on the floor.

"My shoes are wet!" Hikari complained, still rubbing her head.

"Whiner," said the other, who seemed to have recovered from the head-knocking event.

"I am **not **a whiner! My shoes are wet and if you weren't so clumsy—"

"_You _hit my head," he snapped back in his cold manner.

"Did not!"

They gave each other death glares.

"…Not going through a war of 'did not' and 'did too' with you," he said dismissively, and went on watering the plants. And then he went into the class, kept the water container, and sat back on his chair, reading.

"You — you — you!" Hikari burst out. "URGH! Replace my shoes! NOW!"

"What's the matter here?" It was Michiyo.

"**MY. SHOES. ARE. WET. AND. _HE. _DID. IT!" **she said, pointing angrily at the blonde. Takeru Takaishi looked up casually from his book.

"You're a natural whiner," he commented before continuing to read _Chaos._

Hikari was red on the face. She didn't like being angry; because Taichi told her she looked ugly whenever she was.

"Calm down, Hikari," said Michiyo. "Kumiko might have some spare shoes in her locker — c'mon, let's see if she's here yet…"

With a final glare towards Takeru, she stormed off with Michiyo.

"_Takeru Takaishi, you are _**SO **_my enemy now!"_

* * *

**A/N: **I cannot update this fic in a week _(cries) _because it's festive season, so I'm gonna be away with my family for a week or two, but do keep the reviews coming guys! I might get more ideas during my holiday yahh! X3


	3. Chapter 3

3. The Trouble Begins.

Soon, the whole school knew about Yagami Hikari and Takaishi Takeru's rivalry. Hikari would always do things to annoy Takeru, like going after the same book in the library and arriving late on Wednesdays (so that Takeru had to water the flowers by himself). Nevertheless, Takeru _also _had his own ways to get back to her: he would, sometimes, peer over her shoulder when she was writing an English essay and would correct her mistakes aloud, like, "Just so you know, _'in the same boat' _means _'in the same situation', _not _'in the same **vehicle'." **_Hikari would turn scarlet before sinking lower in her seat, but then again Miharu and Daisuke would always defend her.

"It's okay to make mistakes! Because we're human!" Daisuke would say. "And _someone _seems to think that he is a God or something," he would add aloud. But Takeru never lost his temper to whatever Daisuke had to say. Instead, he would snort a little after hearing Daisuke's words, and would return to his (odd) books with a smirk playing on his lips.

This was the part that confused Hikari most. He _was _a strange character. Many classmates advised her to just _ignore that madman. _Hikari somehow agreed on the 'madman' stuff. Takeru _was _mad. He was very smart and knew a lot of things, but there wasn't a day in a week that Takeru Takaishi wouldn't sleep in class. On Fridays he would skip the last period (boring History) according to his mood (and he _usually _ended up in detention on Monday). But surprisingly, he sent all of the assignments and home works that the teachers gave them.

She told Taichi and her mother about this annoying guy at school, but both of them were always like, "Ah, forget that useless bastard! He's not worth your time!" and, "Oh, honey, I'm sure you'll get along well sometime soon…if not, just ignore him, sweetie." Nonetheless, Hikari managed to take Takeru off her mind for several days: her father's birthday was approaching, and they were planning to throw him a party on Sunday. Their new neighbours were all invited, and Hikari had even invited Miharu and the others.

It was Thursday, and Hikari was looking forward to the birthday party.

"Good morning, everyone!" she greeted once she'd entered the sunlit classroom. Not many people were there yet. She went towards her desk, took off her bag, and kept her books in the drawer under the desk. She sat there and scanned the classroom: Harukichi and Arisa were there. They were talking quietly to one another, and Hikari didn't want to interrupt. Miharu wasn't there. Daisuke wasn't there yet, too…

Her eyes automatically darted towards her right, where the Mad Takaishi sat. His blond hair was as messy as ever, but today, he didn't wear his usual hat. His face was hidden behind a book (the title was, "The Turn of the Screw").

As she observed, she noticed that there was this...scent. A not-so-strong but pleasant scent. She had noticed this scent since days ago, and she was guessing that it was coming from Takeru.

"Maybe it's the thing his mother uses to wash their clothes…or maybe his hair gel. Boys don't use perfumes, especially this guy—"

She stopped thinking. What was wrong with her? She mentally slapped herself over and over again. Why was she observing this freak, anyway? Snap out of it! Snap out of it! SNAP OUT OF ITTT!

The rest of the day went on as usual (well, almost) — but went _unusually wrong _during History class.

"Settle down, settle down!" said Mr. Shao Seimaru, a know-it-all yet kind teacher. "Right, uh — for the History project, I'll divide this class into six groups and each group should have four members in it — and as for the leaders of the groups…err…we'll choose them randomly!"

The class went, "Mou, Mr. Seimaru!" but the man merely waved his hand to dismiss it.

"Get into your groups first. When I call your name, gather round one table and stay there! Don't you _dare _go changing your groups, or I'll flunk you. Right, first group—"

Hikari sat and waited. Miharu got into group three. Oh well, she could work with anyone in the class…_EXCEPT _that shoe washer!

"Fujiwara Kumiko," said Mr. Seimaru, "Motomiya Daisuke, Yagami Hikari and Takaishi Takeru, group four! NEXT—"

Hikari's eyes widened, and she quickly looked at Takeru. The other seemed to not notice about the group formation at all, for he was still reading his book. But she was sure he'd heard the teacher! Kumiko and Daisuke crowded around Hikari's desk, while Takeru made no moves at all.

"Get a move on, Goldie Locks!" Daisuke snapped.

"Shut up, Durian Head," said Takeru back in his cold voice. Barely a minute had passed since they became group members, and yet they were already fighting!

"Sir! Sir, excuse me," Hikari said, standing up. She walked up to him. The History teacher was still reading out the names of students. "Sir, we _can't _work with Takaishi, he's—"

"Nonsense, Miss Yagami. Takaishi has been the _only_ student who manages to get a solid A so far. You're lucky to have him in your group. Next, group five! Masaki—"

"But Sir—"

"My decision is final, Hikari," said Mr. Seimaru kindly, and walked to the front. Hikari sighed heavily. What! Now she had to _work_ with him? She returned to her desk.

"Well?" Daisuke demanded.

"Any luck?" Kumiko whispered. Hikari shook her head, and glared at Takeru.

"You'd better cooperate with us, Takaishi!" she warned. Takeru smirked behind his book.

"Quite the contrary..._you lot _need to cooperate with _me," _he said.

Both Daisuke and Hikari began to say rude words together, but then Kumiko broke the fight.

"Okay, okay! Oka — SHUDDUP YOU TWO! And you, Takeru! Please don't be a jackass, will you? This project is worth 40 percent of our final year examination so — please, just please. Cool it, you three."

She glared at them, and then sat back down, groaning.

"I say we pick Kumiko as our leader," Hikari said stiffly.

"Yes, exactly," said Daisuke, nodding. Kumiko rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Seimaru said _he'll _pick the leaders, remember? Randomly! Urgh…he's always like that..."

"Well, no one will know if we change the leader, right?" Daisuke pointed out.

"NO! Just — follow the rules, okay?" Kumiko snapped. Mr. Seimaru announced that all groups were settled.

"Now, we pick the leaders. Your names are written on these papers, and I'll just pick one from each group and that person has to be the leader. Right, first group is…(he fumbled with the papers) Saruwatari Michiyo! Next…"

"Anyway, what chapter are we doing? Which topic?" Kumiko asked.

"I say we go for chapter 7, it's one of the easiest chapters," said Daisuke lazily.

"…I dunno…there aren't enough things to write about in _that _chapter," said Kumiko, flipping through her textbook.

"Emiko Watari, second group!"

"That's why I said it's the easiest chapter, see?" Daisuke replied.

"Then we won't get enough marks if we can't elaborate well on it!" hissed Kumiko. "Oh, just be quiet, you're unhelpful—"

"Etari Yamashita, third group!"

"Am _not!"_

"Okay, yeah – whatever."

"—Takaishi Takeru, group four! Next, Kawamura…"

Here, the three of them actually froze in their seats as they stared, wide-eyed, at Takeru. The newly-elected team leader lowered his book a little for the first time, and looked back at them - he, too, seemed to be shocked.

"**WHAT?" **all three of them chorused.

"SIR! THIS — PERSON — **CANNOT** — BE — OUR — TEAM LEADER!" Daisuke bellowed. The whole class fell quiet before exploding into laughter. "He skips classes! He's in detention almost ALL THE TIME! He's a jerk! He's—"

"Nonsense, Motomiya!" said Mr. Seimaru cheerfully. "You'll do great with him leading the team, trust me. Now be quiet, please, group four!" He gave them one last look before continuing. Daisuke was red on the face, but he sat down, anyway.

The four of them didn't say anything until Mr. Seimaru was done naming the leaders.

"Okay, now listen up. Pick your topics, deadline's on the third week next month! If you have any questions - and _no, _group four, my decision is _final - _you can come and see me at the teachers' office, yeah?" He then picked up his stuff and left the class.

"Well, _leader,_ make a move!" Daisuke said furiously, folding his arms.

"Let's pick a chapter first," Hikari said, trying to be optimistic, as she always was.

"Chapter 7," Daisuke said almost in an instant

"I _told _you, there's nothing much to write about for that chapter! Now be quiet!"

"Nu-uh! No one's asked _your _opinion, Kumiko! Ne, Hikari-chan, what d'you think? Chapter 7? Yes? No?"

Hikari flipped through the book and reached chapter 7. "Hmm…I dunno…it doesn't look OK, but I think—"

"Chapter 9."

Everyone fell quiet at this. Takeru had spoken up, at last. He was flipping through the pages slowly using his fine, long fingers, his cold blue eyes moved from the right to the left as he scanned pages_._

"Pardon?" Hikari asked. His gaze met hers.

"Chapter 9. We're doing chapter 9," he said, and stood up. Kumiko began to flip quickly through the textbook, but stopped abruptly as she saw the other standing up.

"Where are you going? Sit — back — down. _Now,"_ said Hikari. She knew Takeru was going to skip some study periods. That was just the way he was.

"Oh, I'm gonna listen to you, am I?" he said monotonously, but before he walked away, he added, "Gather at the Odaiba Public Library on Sunday. Two o' clock."

And then he went away.

"WAIT! What for? Hey – I'm talking to you!"

He halted when he reached the door. "We're going to discuss about the project, obviously," he said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"B-but my father's birthd—!"

But he was gone. Hikari slammed the book on her table. "I can't believe this! In the same group with him is bad enough - but having to take his orders?"

"It's worth 40 percent of our marks, so just be cool, and do whatever he says…as long as whatever he says makes sense. Just bear with him," Kumiko said, patting her shoulder. Hikari knew it was important — 40 percent! Heck, she wasn't going to let one blonde sleepy head get in her way!

But she wasn't sure if she _could _bear it.

* * *

**A/N:** If you find numbers in the story, and it doesn't make any sense, please insert the word 'percent' behind it. I can't get the percentage symbol in here.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**Do not own, la, la, la…

**A/N:**Fourth chapter.

* * *

4. PartyCrasher.

"I can't believe that freak's ruining dad's party," said Taichi on Sunday morning after listening to Hikari's story about having to go to the library at two. "I mean, it's not gonna be fun without you… You didn't invite him here, did you?"

"Heck, _no!"_Hikari said. "I just hope he'll do a proper job as team leader — I mean, he's got detention for like, _a__week_for being a smart-ass during English class!"

"Okay, cheer up, Hika. It's dad's birthday, so forget about him for a moment, kay?" Taichi said. "It's gonna be great! Sora's gonna be here and she's invited several friends, too!"

"Sora? That classmate of yours?" Hikari asked, and Taichi nodded happily. Like her, Taichi seemed to have made friends easily too. "You seem to like her a lot," she teased.

"Nah, she's got a boyfriend somewhere," said Taichi absent-mindedly as he vacuumed the carpet.

"Oh, _really? _Is her boyfriend gonna be here, too?" Hikari asked.

"Nope. He moved away from Odaiba two years ago — but they're still in contact," said Taichi. "Now enough of Sora! Go see if mum needs any help in the kitchen."

Hikari made a face.

"Well — _go!"_said Taichi, and she skipped into the kitchen, and helped her mother sort out paper plates and plastic cups in the kitchen. Their father had firmly insisted that they order from a caterer instead of having their mother cook – because really, she almost burnt down the kitchen while preparing for last year's birthday party.

As planned, at ten o' clock in the morning, people began to come. They greeted the guests and invited them inside. There were many presents, and Mr. Yagami seemed very happy at the sight of it. People were chatting brightly and at ten fifteen, Hikari's friends arrived. Miharu, Kumiko, Michiyo, Harukichi, Arisa and Naora managed to come, and Daisuke, too. Daisuke brought along some other friends from his soccer team, while Sora had brought along some of her own friends - which meant more presents for Mr. Yagami.

"Right guys, I'll be back soon — gotta refill the drinks," said Hikari. She went into the kitchen to make some more orange juice. Her mother was busy counting the plates for the guests to eat the cake soon.

"Hikari-chan, is a woman by the name of Natsuko here yet?" her mother asked.

"Natsuko? No - well, I dunno," said Hikari. "Why? Is she your new friend?"

"Well, we just met, yes," said her mother. "You know that day when I went out shopping? Actually I lost my way and she was kind enough to show me the way back. Everyone else just ignored me."

"You _lost your way?"_ Hikari repeated, grinning. "I know I should've come with you!"

"Don't tell your dad," her mother whispered. "Anyway, it turns out that Natsuko lives in the other apartment building — the one near your school. She has a son about your age and she said he might come along."

"Oh. Kay, I'll tell you if she's here," said Hikari and she carried the jug of orange juice out of the kitchen. She went to Taichi. "Oniichan, come here a sec!"

"Hmm? Yea?"

"Tell me if a woman by the name of Natsuko is here, okay?" she said. "Mum's new friend."

"Right, no prob!"

Hikari was about to go and join the others again when the doorbell rang. "I'll get the door!" she said and jogged towards the door. She opened it, and standing outside was a graceful blond woman. She was wearing an elegant black coat and she had nice blue eyes.

"Hello," she said. "Is this the Yagami residence?"

"Yes," said Hikari with a smile, opening the door wider. "Do come in."

"Thank you — I'm Natsuko, Takaishi Natsuko."

Hikari looked at her quickly. _Takaishi? _Okay…what a small world...

"I — I'm Yagami Hikari," she replied slowly, eyeing Takaishi Natsuko carefully as she shook the woman's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Hikari-chan," said Natsuko, and then she said, "This is my son, Takeru."

And then the familiar tall and brooding figure came into view. Hikari didn't notice him because he was standing quite far away a moment ago. He was wearing khaki-coloured shorts, which fell right beneath his knees and a casual (yet it looked good on him) green T-shirt. There was no hat, too.

Her eyes widened, and even Takeru's did. None of them expected to see each other right there and then. Natsuko looked at Hikari, and then back over her shoulder at her son.

"Do you …know each other?" she asked slowly. None of them replied. "Takeru?" she asked, looking at her son.

"We're…"

"Classmates," said Hikari. Both of them had a stiff kind of expression, the ones you'd put on when you met your enemy during your shopping trip and both your parents were talking brightly to your enemy's parents.

"Oh, why didn't you say so earlier?" Natsuko said, smiling.

"…I didn't know they were _the _Yagamis," said Takeru quietly.

"Err — do come inside, please," said Hikari and she gestured them to come inside. She closed the door behind them as the two went on inside. She went into the kitchen and told her mother that TAKAISHI Natsuko had arrived, and then she went to sit with her friends.

"What's _he_doing here?" Daisuke hissed, nodding at Takeru as he bowed politely to Mr. And Mrs. Yagami.

"By mere coincidence," Hikari replied through gritted teeth.

"What's all the whispering about?" Taichi asked. Hikari pulled her brother closer and pointed carefully at Takeru.

"That's the jerk I told you about — Madman Takeru!" said she, glaring at the blue-eyed boy across the room. "Turns out that he's the son of mum's new friend…I can't believe this! It's bad enough with him making me go to the library and now. He. Is. **Here.**" She hit the small cushion with her fist several times, only to have Taichi grabbing it away from her.

"Hey, lay off the cushion, it's not the little guy's fault," said Taichi, putting the cushion out of Hikari's reach. He then looked back at Takeru. "Hmm…Takeru, Takeru…so this is the guy. Yea, he does look unfriendly."

"He **is **unfriendly," said Hikari. "He wouldn't even—"

"Hikari? Taichi? Come here, for a moment please!" their mother called.

"Oh no, what now?" Hikari moaned quietly. She and Taichi exchanged glances, and then stood up and went towards their parents.

"This is my son, Taichi, and this is my daughter, Hikari," said their mother fondly.

"Yes, very nice to meet you," said Natsuko, smiling still. Natsuko was a very friendly person, and she smiled often, too. Hikari didn't know why Takeru was so stingy when it comes to words and smiles. "Hikari is such a nice girl — I didn't know they're classmates!"

"Oh — you are?" her mother repeated, looking at Hikari. "I didn't know that, either!"

"None of us did," said Hikari through gritted teeth.

"What's that?"

"Oh, nothing," she said quickly.

"By the way, this is Taichi" (Taichi gave a huge smile), "he's seventeen."

"The same age as Yamato then!" said Natsuko happily. "He's Takeru's older brother, but he's not in Odaiba."

"Where is he then?"

"Oh?" Natsuko looked away. For a fleeting moment, she actually looked a little...sad? "Well, he lives with his father in another town nearby. He visits often though. They're very close to one another, these boys," she said, patting her son on the shoulder.

Hikari thought about it for a moment. Takeru's brother lived with the father…so did that mean…their parents were divorced? And then she remembered something: the writing in the book. It said the book belonged to Ishida Hiroaki. Yes, that must be it. Ishida Hiroaki must be Takeru's father.

She looked at her blue-eyed classmate slowly, only to find him staring at the carpet with his usual cold-and-quiet look. So maybe _that_ was why he was so quiet. He had no friends? But surely his mother would be his friend — she seemed to be a nice person. He could do just about anything in the world with a mother like that, she thought.

But still, divorce is a huge thing…

"Hikari, dear."

"Uh, yes, mum?" she replied, a little too quickly.

"Go ahead and invite Takeru to eat something," said her mother. "Go on, Takeru-kun, Natsuko-san."

"Oh, I'll just sit here for a while," said Natsuko. "Go ahead, Keru-kun. I'll join you soon."

(Hikari almost grinned at the sound of that nickname – finally, something to blackmail him with.)

Takeru looked at Hikari solemnly, but she avoided his eyes. She felt a little sorry for him, and she felt a little guilty. Hikari was always this softhearted girl, who easily pitied others for their misfortunes. But this time she was to be blamed: she had been insulting him openly and yet she never bothered to get to know him, or find out the reason _why _he was so cold and bitter and unfriendly.

Slowly, Hikari stood up.

"This way," she said. The taller person stood up and followed her slowly, hands deep in his pockets. Hikari halted when they reached the table where the food and drinks were served, and simply stood there. "Well…umm, taste some," she said. Takeru looked at her (with his pretty blue eyes, she thought) for a moment before moving past her to take a plate. Hikari's nose detected the familiar scent again.

Takeru's scent.

Panic washed over her in an instant. _"__Oh. __My __God.__WHAT __IS __WRONG __WITH __ME? __WHY __AM __I __THINKING __OF __THIS __GUY __IN __**THAT **__WAY? __WHAT __IS __THIS, __YAGAMI __HIKARI? __ARE Y__OU__ – __ARE __YOU __ACTUALLY __**FALLING **__FOR __HIM? __OH __MY __GOD, __I __DON__'__T __EVEN__ – __WHAT__—"_

"Move, please, you're in my way," snapped Takeru in his cold manner. Hikari, who was slapping her forehead repeatedly before, quickly moved away. Her face turned pink.

"It's your fault. You're too tall - a-and big!" she managed to snap back. The other person stopped whatever he was doing and looked at her sharply.

"I'm your guest, Yagami."

"Well, I'm _irritated_, Takaishi," she replied, breathing rather heavily.

"Talk about temper," said the other.

"Shut _up_."

"Whiner."

"Urgh! Y-you — you shoe washer!"

"Heh…talk about temper," said Takeru, smirking and shaking his head a little. He resumed placing some sushi into his plate calmly.

"Why — y-you!"

After pouring himself some orange juice, he stood face to face with her. He was so close, she could see the threads on his T-shirt - she swore he was doing that on purpose to intimidate her, using his height to loom over her like some pissed off, super scary monster (with pretty blue eyes, Hikari thought). Her heart began to race as she tried to hold his gaze — Hikari's warm brown eyes against Takeru's cold blue ones.

"You're a bad host," he said finally, towering over her for a few seconds more before walking away (his scent lingering behind him). Hikari watched him go, before thundering away towards her friends, face red.

"Wow, someone's angry," said Taichi. It was true, she _was_pissed off – but there was something else seething beneath her anger_._ It was something much, much more intense.

What was it, though?

"Just ignore him — you're always good at ignoring people."

"…Yeah, sure," she said quietly. She didn't look at the blond guy for hours since then. The birthday cake was served in the middle of the coffee table at noon, and they began to sing 'Happy Birthday' to (the embarrassed) Mr. Yagami, and he blew the candles soon after. Hikari couldn't help noticing that Takeru wasn't in the crowd of people around the table, and looked slowly around the living room for him. She spotted him near the window, staring out at the scenery.

"_Please, __girl, __don't __fall __for __him," _said a small voice inside her head.

* * *

**A/N: **Song recommendation – Orange Range's _Matsuri __Danshaku. _IT'S PARTY TIME~ XD


	5. Chapter 5

5. Observation.

Hikari didn't approach the Takaishis at all during that party, and tried her best to avoid them. She didn't know why, but she was afraid to meet them, especially Takeru. There was a time when she would gladly meet Takeru's sneers and insults head-on, but not today (and she wasn't sure why). She went to the bathroom quickly when she heard Natsuko said she was leaving — so that she didn't have to bow politely and wish them goodbye. But then she reminded herself that she was going to be stuck with the madman in the library later, anyway.

"Where did you disappear to?" her mother asked once she was out of the bathroom.

"Bathroom," she said. "That kiwi juice is really something. Better not drink any more of it…"

When it was 1.30 p.m., Hikari said goodbye to her parents and Taichi and set out with Kumiko to go to the library (Daisuke had left earlier and would meet them there instead). In the cab, Kumiko explained to her about the roads and buildings there, and Hikari tried her best to remember them. But occasionally, Takeru's image would float into her mind and she'd almost instantly tune out of what Kumiko was saying. She finally decided that enough was enough.

"Hey, Kumiko, can I ask you something?" Hikari blurted out.

"And that's the — oh? What is it?"

Hikari looked at Kumiko with a thoughtful look on. "That madman Takeru — I didn't know his parents are divorced. Did you know?"

Kumiko lifted her shoulders. "I never knew it until now. I mean, that guy's real stingy with words, how the heck are people supposed to know anything about him?"

Hikari paused to think. "Ever seen his brother?"

"Nope," said Kumiko. Then she eyed Hikari suspiciously. "Why are you suddenly so curious?"

"Well, you know — it's just weird," she said. "I've never understood why there are people who hate the society so much…I mean, like, I love to talk. And I love making friends and it's just so weird to find that there are people who actually don't wanna talk at all…"

"One person is different from another," said Kumiko, and then they returned to the this-is-the-whatever-building subject. Finally they arrived at a huge, well-kept building. Near the entrance was a signboard that held the words, **"ODAIBA ****PUBLIC ****LIBRARY"**and below it was the date and time of the opening hours.

"WHOA, this place is huge!" Hikari said, looking at the building with her mouth half opened.

"Yep," said Kumiko, "and full of books. Trust me, you could easily lose track of time once you're inside. C'mon, let's go!"

"But Daisuke and Takeru aren't here yet," said Hikari.

"Hmm. You're right. Okay, you wait for them here, and I'll go on inside first."

She had to agree with Kumiko because Kumiko was starting to grow too excited to wait for the two boys. So, Kumiko went on inside and Hikari lingered around the entrance, waiting for the other two. While waiting, she sent messages to Taichi through her cell phone and asked how the cleaning job was going on (she'd expected the two boys to arrive late, so she needed something to distract herself with).

"_You __always __have __perfect __timing __when __it __comes __to __avoiding __house __chores,"_came Taichi's bitter message.

Hikari smiled and replied Taichi's message.

"_Well, __let__'__s __just __say __it__'__s __just __my __luck!"_

She didn't have to wait long, though, for after a few minutes, a black car drove towards the library and halted right in front of the main entrance.

And out came Takeru.

After saying something to his mother through the window, he straightened up and spotted Hikari. Hikari expected her heart to beat faster or feel panic or anything, but none of that happened. It was just Takeru, and she only felt that usual hatred towards him.

"Where're the others?" asked Takeru once he had walked over to where she was standing.

"Kumiko's inside, but Daisuke isn't here yet," said Hikari. She heard Takeru muttered something like, "Durian Head" under his breath. "Well, he's a human being, so it's normal for him to be late," she pointed out.

"Whatever," he simply said before walking away towards the entrance.

"Oi, wait!" she called after him. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"

"You wait." He turned around to walk away again.

"But how am I supposed to look for you guys when he's here? It's a huge library!" Hikari asked. Takeru walked back towards her and grabbed her cell phone. "HEY!"

The blond fumbled with the phone for a moment, and then gave it back to her.

"There's something that you call a cell phone," he said in an irritated tone of voice, "and through it you can send messages to one another!" With that, he entered the library again.

"Just wait a second, you—!"

"Just text me when that Durian Head arrives!" Takeru snapped at her without turning back. Hikari watched him go, and then looked at the screen of her phone.

_First name: Takeru  
Mobile – Private: 00—XX—221—XX_

He just gave her his phone number.

Okay, wow.

She held her cell phone tightly as she waited for Daisuke (and managed to stop herself from putting the device close to her chest). She kept glancing at Takeru's number, and then back at the roads. Soon, Daisuke arrived in a cab and he wouldn't stop apologising.

"It's okay, Daisuke, for the last time!" said Hikari.

"Ehe, really sorry, Hikari-chan. I fell asleep," he said for the tenth time. Hikari looked at her phone and, after thinking it over several times, she messaged Takeru.

"_Daisuke's __here. __Meet __us __at __the __entrance."_

She kept her phone away then, because she didn't expect the other person to reply her message. But surprisingly, he did. His message was:

_"1 __second_, _I__'__ll __be __right __there."_

The taller boy appeared at the entrance soon, his hands deep in his pocket.

"Well, well — he's here first, huh? I was afraid you've chickened out, Takaishi!" said Daisuke, folding his arms. Takeru merely rolled his eyes, shook his head, and went on inside. The other two followed him quickly.

There was the nice hush of the library inside. Hikari loved it so much, although the quiet atmosphere made her feel warm and cosy and sleepy. Takeru lead them upstairs, where they met Kumiko at a table near the window. She was surrounded by tons of books already.

"I'm starting to think that this chapter's gonna help us score," she whispered happily once they were seated (though Takeru was looking at books on the shelves nearby). "I mean, look at these! And these! I've got tons of information already — Mr. Seimaru will _surely _give us full marks if we put all of this information into our presentation!"

Kumiko continued to squeal quietly as she flipped through the books, but Hikari turned to look at the group leader. He was standing there, reading a book and flipping through it slowly in an elegant way. Maybe he wasn't so bad, after all. He's just…_weird. _Okay, no, he's extra-extra weird. No. Extra-extra-extra-_extra _weird. But still, this was the first sign that he could become a good team leader. He had chosen the correct chapter just like that.

Hikari stood up and walked over to where Takeru was standing.

"Hey," she said, "how did you know chapter nine's the best one for the project?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as if she was interviewing a criminal. Takeru looked at her, frowning.

"Because I have brains and you guys don't," he said quietly back. Surprisingly, his words did not stab her too deep like it did before. She realised that she had been childish over the weeks when it came to Takeru. She was fourteen, for heaven sakes! Why was she acting like a kid, fighting with a guy and making rivals? She laughed quietly at this and earned a quizzical look from Takeru. "What're you laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing," she said. "You're weird." Then she went back to the table and helped Kumiko gather some information.

—X—

They've been there for an hour and forty-five minutes, and Hikari's back began to ache. She didn't notice the pain earlier because she was so engaged with the books and the notes, but now the pain was obvious.

"I can't believe we managed to get _this __much _in only an hour," Hikari whispered to the rest, smiling, as she stretched her arms. Kumiko smiled back but didn't take her eyes off her notebook. "I'm gonna borrow these books."

"Me, too!" said Kumiko excitedly. Hikari then turned to look at Takeru, who was standing near a bookshelf and was examining a book.

"Hey, Takeru," she called quietly. The blond looked up. "C'mere and sit down! You've been standing for like, forever."

Hesitantly, the blond closed the book and walked towards the table. He sat down quite far away from the rest, and continued reading the book he just took.

"What've you found?" Hikari asked, and earned quizzical looks from all three of her classmates. Perhaps it was weird to see her talking (keyword: _talking_, not snapping) to her archenemy like that. "I mean, c'mon! We're a team, right? What've you found?" she repeated. Takeru threw the book onto the table.

"We could earn a few more marks from this," said Takeru quietly, "because the names of the heroes were mentioned in the school text book, but their backgrounds aren't."

"Great. Lemme see that for a while, please," said the workaholic Kumiko as she took the book and began to read it.

"I have my brother's old books," Takeru continued. "You know, the old syllabus. I'll go through it."

"I'll look for some information in the Internet," Hikari volunteered.

"What should I do then?" Daisuke asked.

"Shut up and get out of the way," Takeru said without meeting Daisuke's eyes.

"WHAT!"

Everyone sitting nearby turned to their direction and looked at them with angry eyes.

"Shh!" they said together. Daisuke covered his mouth.

"Sorry!" he whispered loudly so that people could hear him.

"_SHH!"_

Daisuke covered his mouth once more.

They continued their research until it was 4.30 p.m. In the process, Takeru and Daisuke had both called each other a grand total of ten insulting names and the people around them had cast them angry looks each time the name-calling threatened to escalate into a shouting match. Hikari also realised (finally, after weeks of sitting next to him in class) that Takeru was actually left-handed.

"Put the book back on the shelf, Motomiya," Takeru said calmly.

"You took it, so you put it back, Goldie Locks!"

"Durian Head."

"Madman!"

"Soccer loser."

"Why you! No one insults soccer, and I mean NO ONE!"

This was the last straw. A librarian whisked them away angrily and threatened to call the security if they didn't scram. Luckily Kumiko managed to grab all the books and borrowed them. Then the four of them then sat outside the library, doing some final notes before deciding to go home.

Takeru's cab arrived, and then the other three followed him inside.

"What're _you __guys _doing?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Sharing a cab with you," said Kumiko.

"I don't remember that being the plan_,"_said Takeru, frowning.

"Well, think about it! We can all save our money if all of us pay," said Hikari. Takeru groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, whatever."

Hikari, Kumiko and Daisuke smiled at one another and entered the cab. Takeru sat in front.

"But I'm stopping at the super market," said the blond after a while.

"Why, are you making dinner tonight or something?" Hikari joked, thinking that it was only an excuse Takeru had made to shrug the other three off.

After a pause, the blond said, "Yea, that's quite it."

"Fine with me, even I myself need to do some shopping," said Kumiko, leaning back against the seat.

"Okay, I'll follow," said Daisuke. "I can buy some games for the X-box. What about you, Hikari?"

She nodded. "Yea, why not. I'll tag along!"

Along the way, a thought came across her mind: this was a perfect chance for her to observe and investigate Takeru's background. Maybe she could ask him about his favourite food and then jump to his parents' favourite food before jumping to the subject of his parents. And then, _maybe, _just _maybe, _he'd open up a little bit.

Yes, that sounded like a plan.

They soon arrived at the super market and Takeru asked the cab to wait for them (hey, they had to pay some extra money for that!) and the four of them entered the super market. Both Takeru and Kumiko grabbed a basket each and began to do their shopping while Hikari and Daisuke trailed behind them, talking and joking.

Daisuke was talking about his sister, one Motomiya Jun, and Hikari tried her best to listen but half of her attention was spent on watching Takeru out of the corners of her eyes. She'd noticed something: Kumiko had been choosing things (bread, butter, etc) in a huge amount, probably for her whole family, but Takeru had been choosing things in a small amount. She'd noticed that it wasn't even enough for two people.

Daisuke and Kumiko managed to get into an argument over breakfast cereals at one point, so Hikari took this opportunity and went towards the blond. She pretended to look at some crackers before peering into Takeru's basket.

"You don't shop much," she commented, trying her best to sound casual. The taller person didn't even bother to reply. He was looking at the ready-to-eat tuna spread with crackers. "Are you sure these things are enough for two people?" she asked on, frowning, as she saw about one large bottle of Coke, three instant noodles, and one Mars Bars. "Does your diet consist of junk foods? Is your mother okay with this?"

"No," said Takeru as he tossed two packs of the ready-to-eat tuna spread with crackers. "She's never at home. Not often." And then he moved on towards the canned soup section.

_So, his mother is rarely home…hmm, this is hard to investigate…_

She caught up with Takeru. "So you cook dinner and make breakfast?"

He just nodded.

"And — and do cleaning jobs?"

"What's your problem, woman?" he snapped at last, glaring at her.

"Oh, jeez. I was just curious, no need to fire up or anything," she said, waving a hand. Takeru shook his head and resumed his shopping. Hikari decided not to push it, so she walked with the other two. Finally, when both Takeru and Kumiko seemed to have everything they needed, they lined up at the payment counter and waited patiently. Kumiko paid first, and then Takeru. Hikari was right behind Takeru and saw as he pulled out a credit card.

"You have a credit card? Awesome!"

He stared at her. "It's my mum's," he said.

"Oh." And then, when he was about to keep his wallet back, Hikari caught a glimpse of a picture — a picture of a girl! _Inside_ his wallet! "Hey, who's _that?"_ she asked, pointing. Takeru, once he'd realised what Hikari was talking about, quickly kept his wallet inside his pocket once more. "Owh, c'mon! Who was that?"

"You're becoming an annoying busy body, d'you know that?" Takeru snapped (his face was red!) and then he took his things and went away first. The other three had to catch up with him.

Who was that girl? In his wallet? She seemed precious…so who was she?

Detective Hikari Yagami will try to find out!

* * *

**A/N: **My favourite Beatle is George Harrison (and I don't even know why). What about you?


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Do not own, tra-la-la…

**A/N: **Why look at the time, it's almost 5.00 a.m.

* * *

6. The School Newspaper Club! Irashaimase!

"Oh, c'mon! Who's that girl in the picture?" Hikari asked yet again. The four of them were still at the super market (at the Baby Section — Kumiko had to buy diapers for her baby brother, and Daisuke had went away to some other section because he said he needed new video games (Hikari had politely declined his invitation to come along). Kumiko went on ahead inside but Takeru said he'd rather wait there. Hikari, sensing an opportunity to get to know the quiet blond better, decided to stick around.

"She's someone I know."

"Just a someone?" Hikari pressed on. Actually, she liked it when that pinkish glow appeared on the other's cheeks. Somehow it made him look less scary and a lot funnier. The look on his face when he was struggling to find the correct words was also fascinating.

"Yes, _just_ someone," said Takeru. "Now stop — stop bugging me or I'll…"

Hikari waited for him to finish his sentence, batting her eyelashes in an exaggerated way. "Yes?"

"I'll…" But then he seemed to remember that he didn't actually _have_to explain himself to her at all, so he gave her a look that said, 'You know what, screw it!' before walking away.

"Hey, hey — wait!" she called, catching up with the blond, but the other began to walk at an incredible speed, stuffing his ears with his earphones at the same time. "Kumiko's still inside — and – and Daisuke — _wait __up, __you!"_ She jogged a little and finally reached him. She grabbed him by the arm but he shrugged it away violently.

"Why are you suddenly so friendly? I mean, _c'mon, _no one's actually honest when it comes to friendship, especially _you._After all those insulting things you've called me and then suddenly _this _popped out? Don't tell me you'd expected me to fall for _that. _Everyone's a hypocrite. I'm not blind OR deaf OR stupid. Now leave me alone and live happily ever after, missy."

Takeru had said these words to her angrily, but she merely folded her arms and smiled softly back at him. "Talk about temper!" she said. Takeru's face turned a bright shade of red before storming away. She watched him go, and then chuckled alone. Taichi had once told her that everyone on earth needs a buddy to talk to, and if she, Hikari, found someone who _doesn't _need a buddy, she should call Taichi and he'll beat that guy until he manages to find some friends.

What Takeru had said to her just now proved that Taichi was correct: Takeru sounded annoyed, yes, but Hikari knew that the truth was, he felt jealous when other people made friends with one another but not with _him._

Quietly, Hikari trailed behind the tall Takeru outside. The blond finally stopped at a bench and sat down. He rummaged through all the plastic bags and pulled out a can of Coke. He took ten gulps before lowering the can down and wiping his mouth violently. His face was still pink. Slowly, she sat next to him.

"So…who's the girl, eh? Eh?" she asked, nudging at his elbow playfully. Takeru sort of jumped — as if he had received and electric shock — before standing up and backing away a few steps.

"Y-you — you—!" His perfect face was scarlet by now, and his blue orbs were frowning at her with a mixture of both shock and anger. "When did you— what are you — _go __away!"_

"No can do, sir!" she said, smiling and folding her arms. After a while, Takeru groaned, but he sat back down at the other end of the bench, away from her. There was silence for a moment, and slowly, Hikari looked at him. The pink blush was still there, but his cold look was also there.

And then suddenly, he looked at her.

"What d'you want?" he asked, in his unfriendly tone of voice. Hikari shrugged.

"Nothing," she said.

"Then why are you doing this?" the other asked.

"Doing wha—?"

"_Talking _to me!" Takeru cut across her furiously. "Just — just — _urgh_ — what d'you really want?"

"I _told _you, I don't want anything," she replied. Takeru studied her for a while, wearing a deeply confused frown on his face. When he didn't say anything but kept looking at her, she grew uneasy — he was hurling a thousand questions at her merely by staring at her— but she willed herself to stay calm and return the gaze. There's _no __way _she was going to back down now. "I'm a new student, you know."

He snorted. "I _know."_

"Then can we be friends?"

Takeru seemed to have forgotten to look intimidating as she said those words. He was still looking at her, yes, but the gaze held no contempt or pissed-off-ness – he looked genuinely surprised, and was speechless for a moment or two.

"Friends?" she asked, smiling, when he didn't say anything. Takeru looked at her hand hesitantly and then back at her. She tilted her head slightly to the side, still smiling. "Oh, c'mon. Is it too hard to decide? I thought you have six brains?"

Takeru mumbled something under his breath, and then looked at her hand again. She SWORE he was going to shake it, but then a loud voice implored their can-we-be-friends session.

"HIKARI-CHAAAN! What's going on? WHAT. IS. GOING. **ON?** WHAT'S GOING ON?"

Hikari turned around and saw Daisuke (and Kumiko walking behind him), who was pointing at Takeru with a furious look on his face.

"I was—"

But Takeru stood up and walked away. "Cab's waiting," he said. Daisuke went after him. The two girls followed.

"What _were _you doing?" Kumiko asked.

"Trying to be his friend," she said. As expected, Kumiko gave her the 'are-you-nuts?' look, but said nothing about it.

"WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO DO TO HIKARI-CHAN, YOU GOLDIE LOCKS?" Daisuke shouted. People around looked and pointed. "Hey, it's rude to point!"

"It's rude to shout," Takeru said, getting inside the cab first. Hikari and Kumiko went inside, too.

"You're gonna tell me what you were trying to do with—"

"Drive," Takeru said to the driver. And so the cab drove on, leaving the angry jumping screaming shouting Daisuke behind. Hikari turned her face away so Kumiko wouldn't see the size of her grin.

—X—

That night, Hikari found it quite hard to concentrate on the history notes she was doing. When she sat down and held her pen, her eyes would slowly look at her cell phone on her bed. This went on for about half an hour when she finally gave in. She closed her notebook and sat on her bed. She looked through the address book inside her phone, and halted at Takeru's number.

She stared at it.

_First __name: __Takeru  
Mobile__ – __Private: __00__—__XX__—__22__—_XX

After thinking it through, she decided to send him a message.

"_So,__still __not __telling __who __that __girl __is?__"_she typed in. The reply came to her pretty soon.

"_Who__'__s __this?__"_

She smiled. This anti-social guy must've forgotten to save her number.

"_Your next door neighbour in class."_

She waited but the reply didn't come. So she went back to her study table, with her cell phone right next to her. When the reply didn't come, she decided to disturb him.

"_You didn't save my number, did you?"_

She waited for a while, and then the reply came:

"_Good guess. Leave me alone."_

Hikari could imagine Takeru's annoyed face and couldn't contain her laughter.

"_Okay, whatever Mr. Lone Wolf."_

Hikari was an expert when it comes to making new friends. You can't force people like Takeru when they don't feel like taking another step ahead. Give them time to think, and let them give you the answer later.

She went to bed early, and she had a dream. A very nice one. But when she woke up, she forgot all about it.

—X—

The next day, Hikari was in a very good mood. She went to school humming and said good morning to everyone (including their English teacher, whom the whole class hated so much). Once she was inside her class, she sat down and greeted the person next to her.

"Ohayo!" she said. But Takeru had his earphones stuffed into his ears again. Hikari pulled one earphone off (and Takeru whirled around, surprised), and said, "O—ha—yo!"

Takeru leaned away from her and frowned in annoyance. "…Ohayo, ohayo…"

Hikari sat back down. "So, did you bring your brother's book? The one you mentioned yesterday?"

Takeru pulled out a book from his bag and handed it to her. She looked through it. Like the _'CHAOS' _book, there was a name written on the first page:

_Property of Ishida Yamato._

So she was right when guessing Hiroaki was Takeru's father. She flipped through the page and noticed that the book was different from the ones they used today. The old syllabus seemed a little difficult, too. On several pages were notes (probably written by Yamato, or maybe Takeru) and on several others were drawings and lyrics and names of super stars and singers. Hikari giggled when she saw that someone had doodled picture of a gorilla climbing up the Tokyo Tower.

The four of them spent the time between classes to discuss about their history project, and Hikari was surprised that they managed to get several things done, given the amount of time Daisuke and Kumiko spent arguing one another.

Nearing recess, a senior student knocked on the classroom door.

"Is Yagami Hikari here?" he asked. Hikari stood up and walked to the front, wondering what on earth it was about.

"Yes?"

"Oh, hello, Hikari! I'm Souichiro Hoshi, and I'm from the newspaper club. You're the new member, right?" he asked. Hikari nodded. He then went to Miss Miyamori and asked her permission to show Hikari to the club room for a moment. The teacher agreed and the two set off.

"So, why did you join the newspaper club, Hikari-san?" he asked.

"Err. Because we'd get the hottest gossip first?" Hikari said, and he laughed.

"Okay, fascinating!" he said.

"Nah, only joking. Actually I'm interested in photography, but that club's already full… so, you know."

"Ah, I see. That's great, because we really do need extra photographers," said he as they both approached a door. "Well, here we are." He opened the door to reveal an office-like place. It was empty (all the students were still in class), but the place could do with a little cleaning up. "That's where they type and edit the news," said the senior, pointing at several computers. "That's the 'What's Hot' board," he said, pointing at a huge board with papers and pictures pinned on them. "And that's the boss's table. She gets the hugest table, of course."

"Who's the boss?" she asked.

Souichiro smiled. "Nah, we just called her that. Her name is Arya Leroy, she's a year older than you — and trust me, she loves to boss people around. That's why she's the _boss."_

Hikari smiled at those words. "Leroy? That's one weird name."

"Yea, she's French."

Hikari arched her eyebrows, impressed. "We have French students here? What's she doing in Japan? And her first name sounds Japanese, too."

"Her parents have this obsession with Japan, and named her Arya. Her parents are in France now, but she wants to stay behind. Don't make her angry, or she'll start screaming at you in French."

"Okay, I'll keep that in minds," she said, laughing. "So, when can I start?"

"Ooh, you're dedicated! That's good," said Souichiro. "Okay, first, you must ask Arya if you can be one of our photographers — but I think she'll say yes, since she's so desperate for more paparazzi…" He went towards a desk and pulled out a book from the drawer. "Here, write your name and class."

Hikari wrote her name and class, and at the same time, the bell rang.

"Hey! Why don't you stay here for a while and wait for Arya? Then we can confirm whether you can be the photographer or not," he said. "You don't mind sacrificing your lunch, do you?"

"Nope, no prob! I'll wait," she said.

"That's the spirit!"

While they waited, Souichiro told her a little about the activities they'd done. He even told her about what happened two years back: a fight broke out between Arya and a senior student who happened to be in the school cheerleading team. Arya received a rumour that the senior was dating someone she liked, but it turned out that the senior only sent that guy a letter. Arya didn't believe it and insisted that she was a boyfriend stealer.

Hikari quietly concluded that this Arya person was not someone to be meddled with.

Time went on and then finally, the door swung open. Two girls entered, chatting excitedly.

"—And then he said, 'you can have mine if you want to!'" one of them was saying. After hearing this, the other squealed in excitement (Hikari raised her brows). "I know! It was like, _so _obvious that he's jea — oh, Souichiro. You're here."

"Finally, you noticed me," said Souichiro. "Quit gossiping. This is the new member."

The girl who was talking stepped towards Hikari and examined her. She observed the other, too: she was a graceful figure, with shiny, well-kept golden hair which fell past her shoulders.

"Hi, I'm Arya Leroy," she said, offering her hand. Hikari shook it.

"Yagami Hikari, nice to meet you."

"Hikari here was just wondering when she could start," Souichiro implored.

"_Really? _Ooh, that's great! You can start right now if you want to, there's the upcoming match of the –oh-what-do-you-call-it — oh, _basketball_ — and we need the story right away! I mean, I can't imagine if we don't have it in our sports page by next week — what _are_the people gonna say about us? The shame! The critics! Urgh, can you imagine that?"

"Hold on, hold on, Arya!" Souichiro said. "She's into _photography_, and we were sort of wondering—"

But Souichiro's words were swallowed by Arya's loud cheer. "YEAY! AT LAST, A _PAPARAZZI!_Oh, you **do ****not **know how _happy _I am right now, Hikari-chan! Can I call you Hikari-chan?"

"Uh — sure!" she said. Arya-senpai seemed friendly.

"Okay, here's the deal, Hikari-chan," said Arya-senpai, sitting down next to her and taking out a paper that looked like a schedule or some sort. "It's basketball season now, and the match is between schools, this time — and our school is _finally _playing against our mortal enemy, Aki High. Here's what I want you to do: come here to this room on Friday afternoon and meet me. Our school basketball team has a practice session that day—" (she pointed at the schedule) "— so while I interview them, you snap some pictures. Got that?"

"Got it," she said. "Do I bring my own camera?"

"I don't see why not!" she said. Hikari smiled. She was glad to have yet another new friend, and she was excited about her first task. But she kept reminding herself, as she walked towards the cafeteria, that she needed to divide her time carefully so that she could manage both the history project and the activities for the newspaper club.

—X—

Friday arrived, and Hikari was so excited. She was satisfied too, because she managed to cope with both the history project and the newspaper club — _and _her home works _and _her chores at home. She was, however, a little disappointed, because Takaishi Takeru didn't seem to want to take another step ahead. Not _yet._ So she decided to just leave him alone for a while.

On Friday afternoon, Hikari went to the Newspaper Club room and met Arya-senpai there. Both of them then set out towards the basketball court (she heard a lot of squeaking noises as they got nearer — must be the shoes). Along the way, Arya-senpai asked her a lot of things, like what perfume she used and whether she'd receive any fan mails or not.

"Perfume is, like, the most important stuff for a girl. I mean, people will remember your scent, you know, that's how you leave your trail," said Arya-senpai. She bragged on about perfumes and lipstick and such, but Hikari suddenly thought about Takeru. _He _had that scent of his, and Arya-senpai was right: Hikari remembered that scent.

But she was SO not falling for him.

"Okay, here we are!" said Arya-senpai and they both entered. The boys hadn't started their practice yet, so Arya-senpai made her way towards the team, saying, "Hi, guys! Do you have a minute? You guys are gonna be in the sports page next week~!"

Hikari smiled as she saw Arya-senpai's attitude. She, however, did not join her, but lingered around instead. She looked at the court and the scenery around, before turning her attention once more to Arya-senpai and the team. They were all standing around her, talking excitedly about the match and their practice session.

Hikari raised her camera, and zoomed at Arya-senpai's face. And then, _snap!_ she took one picture of her. She looked so happy, interviewing others. And then, _snap! __snap! __snap! _she took several pictures of the team. Then she approached them ad stood next to Arya-senpai.

"And — ooh! This is our new photographer, Miss Yagami HIkari," said Arya-senpai before adding, "She's single, you know." Hikari protested and the boys laughed at this before saying hello to her. "Please smile at the camera, she's taking the team picture!"

"But our coach isn't here," said someone.

"Oh, bother the coach! Junichi could Photoshop him in later," said Arya-senpai, waving a hand gracefully. "Right — smile at the camera…one…two…"

Hikari focused at the team.

"Three!"

_Snap! _She smiled. A perfect one.

And only then she noticed a blond someone at the far right of the camera screen. She quickly looked at the boys — aha, yes.

Madman Takaishi was in the basketball team.

She smiled at him, but he merely walked away towards the benches across the court.

"Tsk," she said quietly. Of course. She should've known…

"Right, Hikari-chan! Let's stay here and watch them play for a while, so that you can snap some pictures, kay~?"

"Okay," she said. The girls sat on a bench and watched the team warming up. And then they began the practice. Hikari took some pictures, while Arya-senpai cheered for the team ("WOOO—HOO! GOOOO ODAIBA HIGH! YOU CAN DO IT! THAT'S THE SPIRIT!").

Hikari must've taken around fifty shots when suddenly the door of the court swung open. Several senior students in their uniforms entered, talking loudly to one another (there were around eight or ten of them — boys). But then they halted as they saw the basketball team playing.

"Hey, shrimps," one of them called out, "Fuck off, the court's ours."

The team had stopped playing as they eyed the senior students nervously.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" asked the same one who had spoken. "Go on, scram."

Nervously, one of them answered. "The – the coach gave us permission to practice today."

"Oooh, I'm so scared now. The coach! Ooh~"

The seniors sniggered at this. They were now surrounding the unfortunate boy who had spoken up, and the leader of the senior students was standing dangerously close to the boy.

"You think I give a damn about your coach?"

"We got here first. Try to be on time if you wanna play next time, why don't you?" came a cold voice. Everyone's head turned to where Takeru was standing. He was calmly toying with the ball as he stared back at the senior student.

Suddenly, Hikari remembered something Miharu had told her earlier:

_"He's Takaishi Takeru, the 'loner' of this class. He never really talks much, but he will if people ask him things that he had to answer — or if someone picks up a fight with him."_

Uh-oh. This was _not_ good.

"What did you just say?" asked the leader-like guy of the senior boys. Takeru really had the courage, thought Hikari, to glare back at the senior.

"I said, try to be on time. You deaf?"

Okay, _definitely_ not good.

The seniors stepped away from the first boy and began to crowd around Takeru. The rest of the basketball team quickly stood by Takeru, ready to back him up should anything ugly happen.

"Snap that," whispered Arya-senpai excitedly. Hikari looked at her, surprised. "C'mon, snap that!"

"B-but — what for?"

"For the 'Have You Heard?' section! It's gonna be hot: Have you heard? The basketball team picked up a fight weeks before their big match! Just imagine!" whispered Arya-senpai. "C'mon! Do your thing!"

"I'm not really sure…" She was afraid if they get into trouble. The seniors did look scary.

"Oh, come _on!_ We need to take risks to produce good news and gossips!" said Arya-senpai. Hesitantly, Hikari raised her camera, and zoomed at the two: Takeru and the senior. Even though it was through her camera, she could see Takeru's cold blue eyes clearly…

"Oh, excuse me," said Arya-senpai suddenly, standing up. "Gotta make a phone call!"

"B-but—!"

"Snap some pictures!" she called back.

Arya-senpai—"

"Snap!" she said. Because Arya-senpai was still watching, Hikari had to stand up, and snap one picture. And then another. And another. She looked at the door and found Arya-senpai gone. She turned back to the scene and took a huge risk — she took two more pictures.

"Oi, YOU THERE!"

The voice made her jumped in surprise and fear.

"What d'you think you're doing, sweety?" he asked.

"I was—"

"Pu that thing away and mind your own business," said another as they came closer. There were three of them. The others just stood at the back and watched. Okay, cool it, Hikari-chan. Stay calm. Don't show them you're scared.

"Well, you should mind your own business too. They were practicing, can't you see?" she said, and immediately regretted it.

"Ooh, here's a brave one," said the first one while another whistled. As they approached a few more steps, Hikari backed away and swallowed as one of them reached out a hand and—

"Leave her alone," Takeru said, grabbing the senior's extended arm and pushing it away. He stood right in front of her, effectively blocking the senior's advance. Some of the basketball players had moved to stand next to Takeru, too. "Our coach is coming in fifteen minutes' time. Let's see how brave you are then."

Silence hung in the air for a moment, and then the leader spoke up. Hikari did not like the tone of his voice.

"C'mon guys, let them go."

Hesitantly, the three senior students who had approached Hikari began to back away to rejoin the group.

"He thinks he's such a hero, this one," sneered the leader, nodding at Takeru. With a last smirk, they began to leave. Takeru did not take his eyes off them until the last senior was out the door. Hikari sighed in relief.

"What were you trying to do?" Takeru snapped, turning around and towering over her.

"I was defending you, hello?" she said. Takeru rolled his eyes.

"I meant _the __pictures," _he almost yelled out the words.

"It was for the school newspaper," Hikari mumbled. "Arya-senpai said—"

"One thing you need to know is that Leroy isn't always a sane person – the gossip column is stupid and I don't think you should risk you life over such thing!" he said, his frown deepening. Hikari made a face, but she did see the truth in his words. There was an odd pause, and then he spoke, "Not hurt, are you?"

"Oh, come on, he didn't even touch me, remember?" she said, avoiding his eyes. There was another odd pause. "Thanks—"

"I've got basketball practice," he said quickly.

"Good, I have to return to the Newspaper Club room," she said quickly, too, and they both walked away in different directions. Hikari felt her heart beat faster and faster, but she managed to ignore it.

–X–

Arya stood peeping at the door of the basketball court. She saw everything that happened between Hikari and Takeru.

"Our new paparazzi, huh?" she said softly in a poisonous tone of voice. "Welcome, Hikari Yagami…**welcome."**

With one last glance at the two blushing classmates, she walked away.

* * *

**A/N:**Trololol, I was having fun bullying Daisuke there, wasn't I? XD


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:**Do not own, fiddle-dee-dee…

**A/N:**Seventh chapter.

And my nine-year-old brother's doing a jutsuu in the bathroom. (=.=)

* * *

7. The Warm Person Inside

_Takeru's POV (A/N: Something I wanted to write about SO BADLY! X3)_

It was 5.22 a.m._,_but the lights of Takeru's bedroom hadn't gone out yet. The teen was seated on his bead, facing his laptop. Next to him was his maths homework, the one he had just finished. On the study table were some books and notes for the history project.

Takeru was feeling sleepy, but something inside him didn't want to go to bed. He was looking for some information for the project, but then he began to chat with someone instead.

**I'm1800cmTall: **Hey niisan.

**TW'sVocalist: **Wat

**I'm1800cmTall: **How do you tell if someone's being honest with you?

**TW'sVocalist: **Beats me.

**I'm1800cmTall: **You're not helping

**TW'sVocalist: **why are you asking this?

**I'm1800cmTall: **Got curious. Fine if you can't help. G'nite.

**TW'sVocalist: **That's _g'morning,_bro.

**I'm1800cmTall: **Whatever.

He knew it. His brother wasn't that friendly, either, so how was he supposed to know?

The blond lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. This curiosity thingy was really killing him.

—X—

Hikari strolled into her classroom the next Monday, humming under her breath as she did so. In her hand was a file, which contained some information she had gathered from the Internet that might help their history project. No one was there yet, of course (for she always came early), but Harukichi's bag was on her seat. Harukichi wasn't there though. At the back of the class, legs crossed on his desk, reading a book and listening to his MP3 player, as usual, was Takeru. His face was hidden behind a book — Hikari thought it was one of his weird books, but it turned out to be a comic instead.

"Ohayo," she greeted, sitting down on her seat. "I got something that might help our project — but maybe it's in your brother's book, I dunno. We'd better check it out to make sure—"

Hikari stopped abruptly. She didn't see Takeru's face when she was walking in because it was hidden behind the comic, but now that she'd sat down next to him, she could see it clearly.

"Oh god," she said, standing up. A frown was visible on her face. Takeru remained silent and merely sat there and read the comic. "What…what _happened _to you?"

Takeru flipped to the next page, still reading. "Nothing."

"You call _this _nothing?" she repeated. She walked closer towards him and held out a hand to touch his face, but he leaned away. His eyes met hers.

"It's nothing," he said again, looking coldly at her.

"This isn't nothing — does your mother—?"

"Shut up," he said, half groaning, before standing up with the comic in his hand. He began to walk away, but Hikari quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him back to his seat.

"_You _shut up and — sit down! This ISN'T nothing…this is serious!" she snapped. "Stay put! I'll look for…aha, here it is." She took a band aid from her bag.

"I don't need that," said the blond stubbornly.

"You know, this is the perfect time for you to shut up and forget your so-called pride," she snapped. How could he call this _nothing? _His face was badly bruised_,_with several serious cuts. One nasty cut was right beneath his left eye, and yet there were no signs that he had tried to heal them or anything. "Doesn't you mum ever check up on you?"

Hesitantly, he answered, "She wasn't home yesterday."

Carefully, Hikari placed the band aid on the cut beneath his eye. He winced and pulled back. "Yeah, she seems like a busy woman," she said, taking out another band aid. "So, what? You don't know how to take care of yourself? What happened to you, anyway, fell out of bed?"

Takeru snorted a little and then cast his gaze out the window, ignoring her question_. _Hikari sighed a little before attempting to place another band aid on his face. He quickly leaned back again and took it from her.

"I can do it myself," he said quietly, not quite meeting her eyes now. Hikari glared at him.

"I thought only Taichi's so proud…but I guess all boys are like that," she said, returning to her desk. But before long, she couldn't help asking. "It was those seniors back at the court, wasn't it? They beat you up?" she guessed

Takeru merely shrugged.

"You're gonna need to tell the teacher about this—"

"No."

"—Or they'll keep looking for you—"

"I said, _no."_

"—And this'll affect our history project!" she finished. "You're the team leader, you can't get into fights or detentions while we're doing this project!"

Takeru rolled his eyes. "Do me a favour and shut up, Yagami." With that, he stood and left the class.

"Well, YOU'RE WELCOME, IT WAS NOTHING!" she screamed back. Why the hell is this guy SO annoying? Maybe Daisuke was rightt, after all. Takeru wasn't the right person to be the team leader. She should've asked Mr. Seimaru to pick another leader earlier — but then again, the teacher had refused to do so. Well, she wasn't saying Takeru wasn't a good leader (he seemed to know what he was doing and where to find information), but the way he was acting made her felt uneasy. He got into all these fights and it would affect their team for sure. And if _that_happens, they're doomed.

Takeru skipped the first period — physics. Well, he was good at that, so maybe it was nothing. But somehow, Hikari kept worrying about him. She couldn't get him off her mind for the whole period — where was he? He wasn't picking up fights with the seniors, was he? Or did those seniors already beat him up to death?

"We gotta find Takeru," she said quickly during lunch.

"Why are you suddenly worried about that Goldie Locks?" Daisuke asked lazily.

"We have to discuss about our history project, remember?" she replied, looking around the cafeteria. "D'you see him, Kumiko?"

"No," said the other, also looking around. "We need to decide where to gather after school to discuss about this project. Daisuke, you're not helping."

"Well, what d'you _want_me to do?" he said hotly.

"Go look for him in the boy's bathroom or something," Kumiko snapped back. "I'll look in those unused classrooms…Hika, you just — look for him. Just look for him…" With that, she went away, muttering curses under her breath.

"There goes my lunch — but I guess that 40 percent is worth it," sighed Daisuke before shouting out, "HEY, HAS ANYONE SEEN THAT STUPID GOLDIE LOCKS? Sheesh!"

But when lunch break was over, none of them had managed to find Takeru. They went back to class — and found the blond sitting on his chair in the class, reading his comic quietly. Daisuke complained loudly about him not being able to stay put, but the other ignored him (as he always did).

"We've been looking all over for you," Kumiko groaned.

"Clearly you didn't open your eyes wide enough," Takeru replied as he flipped to the next page. The other three stared at him darkly, and then sat down around him.

"So where are we to meet after school?" Hikari asked.

"Not the library again, since the two of you've been arguing loudly there," said Kumiko, casting a dark look at the boys. Takeru closed his comic book, and sat up properly.

"My place, then," he said. His team members merely stared back at him.

"Are you serious?" Kumiko asked flatly.

"Yes. I've found several books I'd like you to—"

"No way, nu-uh! Not going to YOUR house, loser!" said Daisuke. "We can gather at Kumiko's—"

"You do _not_ want to be there," Kumiko said. "I've got younger siblings and they're devils in disguise."

"Well then — Hikari-chan's—"

"I'll wait after school," said Takeru as if he didn't hear a word Daisuke said. He took his comic out and began to read again. Whatever arguments Daisuke voiced after that, he turned a deaf ear on it.

—X—

Hikari rushed to the Newspaper Club room after school. Junichi (the guy in charge of the Photoshop stuff) was the only one there.

"Um — hi, Junichi!" she said breathlessly (she'd ran all the way there). "Look, I'm in a hurry, so — these are the pictures that I took for the basketball match – practice – thingy," she said, giving Junichi her pen drive. "I've removed the blurry pictures. Right, gotta go!"

"See ya," said the other, waving lazily back as she ran out the door.

Hikari rushed back home. She had to tell Taichi that she couldn't do the shopping today. Once she was home, she wrote a note to Taichi, packed the things needed for the history project, changed her clothes, and went out again. Kumiko said she couldn't come with her because she had to clean the house, and that she might be a little late, so Hikari was all determined to look for Takeru's house herself. Takeru had given the other three his address, but her sense of direction wasn't all that good.

She managed to find the apartment building in about ten minutes. She looked at it, and then back at the address.

"Yep, this is it," she muttered alone_._She got into the elevator and arrived at the third floor. She wandered around for a bit and finally found house number 108.

_108_  
_TAKAISHI_

She raised her hand to press the doorbell, but hesitated for a while. She suddenly had this crazy image of Takeru with his hair wet as if he'd just had a bath coming to get the door…

She shook herself violently, and then hit her head repeatedly.

"Bad! Bad! Bad!" she hissed alone, hitting her head with her file. That was when the door suddenly swung open, revealing Takeru (his perfect face still bruised and the band-aid beneath his eye was still there). He was wearing a plain white T-shirt and a pair of shorts, which fell right beneath his knees. He seemed to love that kind of shorts. He stood there, eyebrows raised as he watched Hikari with the file half raised into the air – she was just about to hit herself again.

"Uh. Hi," she said.

His raised eyebrows turned into a frown. He was holding empty milk bottles and was about to place it outside. "Yeah, _hi…_ What were you _doing_?"

"Nothing!" she said quickly. The other rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He entered and as he did so, he opened the door wider. "C'min."

Hikari followed him inside. She took off her shoes and placed them neatly out of the way. The house was very neat — no, actually, it looked quite empty. There was the living room, with one coffee table and several sofas, and then the dining table, several shelves, the TV, and that was it. However, there was one huge shelf full of books, and near it were several very comfortable looking chairs where you can sit and read. Maybe that was where Takeru kept his weird books…

"Is your mum home?" she asked. Takeru's voice called back somewhere from the back of the house.

"No."

"When's she coming back home, then?"

Takeru took his time before replying. "Maybe late at night or tomorrow morning." And then he appeared from the kitchen, bringing several cans of soft drinks. "You drink soft drinks, right?"

Hikari sort of nodded.

"If you don't there's plain water."

"Coke's fine," she said, rolling her eyes. The other handed her one and she took it, saying thanks. "So, Daisuke's not here yet?"

Takeru shook his head. "Bet he won't even find this place…" With that, he stood up and disappeared into one of the rooms. Hikari began to follow.

"So, where are we—?"

"Stay there!" he suddenly warned. He stuck his head out of the door. "Stay right there. In the living room."

"It's okay if your room's a mess, you know—"

"Stay. Right. **There**," he said warningly. There was silence for a moment.

"Okay, whatever," Hikari said at last, walking back towards the living room. She heard the door snapped shut. She walked towards the shelf full of books and looked at several titles. The _'CHAOS' _book was there, as well as several other familiar ones that Takeru had brought to school. There were poetry books, love stories (this one must be his mother's), mystery novels and well-kept comics. Several books were in other languages like English and French.

"You speak French?" Hikari asked loudly so that he could hear her.

"No," came the reply. He then came out of the room, closing the door carefully. "My mum does." Before she could ask any more questions, he tossed her a file and she caught it. "The things I managed to gather for the project," he said shortly, nodding at the file. Without waiting for any replies, he went towards the shelf full of books and began to pull out several of them. Hikari went to the living room and sat down, looking at the papers inside the file. There were historical pictures, text on the heroes of the past and others. Soon after, Takeru joined her in the living room (though he sat quite far away from her).

"These books might help," he said shortly, and handed it to her. She looked through it, but grew bored. But then again, she pretended to look through it over and over again. Time went on. And on. And on. And she wondered when the other two would show up. Takeru didn't seem to want to start a conversation, but even if she did start one, it's not like he'll reply back.

"…Your brother Taichi, he knows Sora?" he suddenly asked.

"Huh? Wha — oh, yeah. They're classmates," she answered. Takeru nodded a little, showing he understood. "You know Sora?"

"She dates my brother," he said in flatly.

"Where does your brother live, anyway?" Hikari asked as she flipped through the book again.

"Nearby."

"But not in Odaiba?"

He shook his head.

"I see…"

The odd silence didn't go on forever, when someone (finally!) pressed the doorbell. Takeru stood and answered the door. It was both Daisuke and Kumiko.

"Is Hikari-chan here?" Daisuke asked. Perhaps he'd seen her shoes. Without waiting for Takeru to invite him in, he entered, saying, "Hikari-chan! You made it here!"

"Er — yeah, looks like it," she said, smiling. They sat there in the living room around the coffee table.

"Hey, Goldie Locks, don't you have _anything_ other than Coke and Sprite?" Daisuke complained.

"There's the door, right over there," said Takeru calmly, pointing at the front door. "I'm almost sure we don't need your big mouth right now."

"Why you—!"

"Okay, okay, shut it!" Kumiko said. "That's it! One more argument and I'm off!"

"No!" both Hikari and Daisuke said. Kumiko was good at making decisions, and they couldn't just let her thunder out of the apartment. They began to discuss and read one another's notes, making additional ones as they read along. The sky outside showed signs that it might be raining sometime soon, but their work wasn't finished yet so none of them could run back home before the rain starts falling.

By the time they decided that they were done, it was raining quite heavily. Daisuke decided to run all the way back home (because he didn't want to borrow 'Goldie Locks'' phone to call his parents), while Kumiko had brought an umbrella along with her. Hikari, on the other hand, had decided to borrow Takeru's phone. She dialed home.

"Yagami's residence!" came Taichi's voice.

"Hey, Taichi, it's me," said Hikari.

"Oh! Oh! Lemme guess! Let me guess!" he said. "You forgot your umbrella?"

"Yep!"

"Well, mum's gone shopping with dad—"

"Then you come and fetch me. It's not far, just near our schools," she said.

"Well, I dunno. I'm playing _Radiata Stories, _Hika, I can't—"

"Switch it off then, or pause it," she said.

"Well…"

Hikari looked around and saw that Takeru was watching the TV, so she hissed, "I'm at that Madman Takeru's house so would you just please fetch me?"

"Oh! Right! Okay!" said Taichi. "But I might be late…the game's getting interesting—"

"Taichi!"

"All right, all right! See ya. Sheesh…" With that, they both hung up. She went back into the living room to collect her things.

"I'm surprised we managed to get this much done by today," she said. Takeru didn't reply. His blue eyes were focused on the TV screen, watching the news. Then there was thunder and lightning, and it began to rain like hell. I mean. Like. Cats and dogs. Yeah.

Hikari sat quite far away from Takeru. After fifteen minutes, she began to feel uneasy. It was, like, the _two_of them, alone in a house? And it's raining outside? And she was a girl, he was a boy, so. . . .

Suddenly a loud thunder cracked. Hikari felt the sofa shook a little. Takeru, on the other hand, watched his bedroom door, looking a little worried. Come to think of it, he had been doing that every time a thunder was heard. But after a few minutes, he'd watched the TV again.

CRACK! BOOM!

This one made her jump a little, and made the blond stood up. Hikari didn't hear it at first, for there were several other thunders after that, but then she heard it — a voice. Somewhere in the house.

A child's voice.

"_Keru-niisan!"_

Quickly, Takeru went to his bedroom, calling, "S'okay, I'm right here!" Puzzled, Hikari stood and walked near the room, watching.

"Who is in there?" she asked. There was definitely a child in there!

Takeru came out of the room, carrying a little boy. He seemed to be around one or two years of age. He was hugging Takeru tightly, probably afraid of the loud thunder, and Takeru was saying comforting words to him. "Oh my…who's this little guy?" Hikari asked, smiling.

"This is Hiroki-kun," said Takeru in his quiet voice — but he was smiling a little. "Ne, Hiroki-kun…say hello — say hello…"

Slowly, the little boy looked at Hikari. She noticed that the boy had the same pair of blue eyes, but he wasn't blond. He had brown hair instead, and fair skin (very much like Takeru). But then Hiroki-kun hugged Takeru tightly again.

"He's shy," Takeru said, walking back into the living room and sitting down. Hikari followed.

"Is he your brother?" she asked, amused. If he was, why hadn't Takeru said anything about him?

"No, he's not," said Takeru. "He's my cousin. He's staying over for the week…"

Another thunder came, and the little child began to cry again. "Keru-niisan!"

"And he never gets my name correct," Takeru added, his smile widening. He let Hiroki-kun hug him tightly and didn't stop saying comforting words to him. "Ne, Hiroki-kun, look. Look, there's Hikari ne-chan…look, she's not afraid of the thunder…"

Hiroki-kun looked at her, and seemed to forget about his fear a little bit. There was the shy-but-curious look on Hiroki's face, as most children would look like when they met a new person for the first time. For a moment, Hikari couldn't believe what just happened. _The_cold Takaishi Takeru at school was taking care of his baby cousin? That sounded a little absurd, especially for someone like Takeru. To be able to take care of children was hard, and you need to be both patient and friendly.

And Takeru was NOT friendly.

"See? It's all right," said Takeru comfortingly, patting the younger boy's back.

"Wait a sec," said Hikari as she remembered something. "You said your mother's not here yesterday."

"Yeah. So?"

"Does this mean you — took care of him all by yourself?" she asked. The blond nodded, and she could see him going pink. _"You? _Taking care of a _child?"_

"Well, what's so hard?" he said, sounding annoyed now. "Feed him when he's hungry, wash him when he's all messed up, put him to sleep when he's restless — that's it."

"And you change his diapers?"

"…That, too."

Hikari sort of laughed a little, and then she stood from her seat and sat next to Takeru, looking at Hiroki-kun.

"Hi, I'm Hikari," she said, smiling at the little boy. "What's your name?"

Hesitantly, Hiroki-kun took her hand and shook it. Takeru smiled.

"My aunt taught him to shake people's hand whenever he meets them," said he. "Go on, what's you name?"

"Takaishi," Hiroki-kun said in his baby-like way of talking.

"Was that why you didn't allow us to enter your room? Because Hiroki-kun was inside?" Hikari asked. Takeru nodded.

"He was asleep."

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Well, you know, we could keep quiet. It's not like we'll make a racket and wake him up or anything." When Takeru didn't reply, she asked, "So where are his parents?"

"My mum's gone shopping with my aunt just before I arrive from school," he said, patting Hiroki-kun gently as another thunder was heard, and then he continued, after a pause, "My aunt's a single parent."

"Oh…"

Hikari fell quiet, watching Hiroki-kun (who looked back at her).

"How old is he?"

"Almost two," said Takeru. And then Hiroki-kun began to squirm, and Takeru let go of him. "What's that? What is it?" he asked as Hiroki-kun carefully climbed down the sofa, and then dragged the tall Takeru towards the kitchen. "Okay, okay — wait, Hiroki-kun — what is it?"

Hikari laughed at the sight of Takeru being dragged away by a two-year-old boy into the kitchen. She followed the boys into the kitchen. "I think he's hungry," she said, as she watched Hiroki-kun pointing at the fridge.

"He's not," said Takeru, "he wants one of mum's diet Coke. Watching us drink Coke made him curious about it, I guess…"

Hikari laughed again. "But babies can't drink those! Give him baby formula or milk or something..."

"That's the problem," said Takeru, looking a little disturbed. "He won't budge from the fridge until he gets a can of Coke. And when he does get one, he'll cry because he doesn't know how to open it."

Hikari kneeled down next to Hiroki-kun. "Hey, you," she said, "Coke's bad for babies. It's nasty, anyway." Hiroki-kun looked at her for a moment, and then pointed at the fridge again. Takeru tried to carry him out of the kitchen, but Hiroki-kun squirmed and began to whimper, pointing at the fridge still.

"Okay, okay," Takeru said, letting Hiroki-kun stand on his own feet. "But no Coke—"

Hiroki-kun began to whimper, and then cry, as if he understood.

"No, no, no — okay, okay, shh, shh! Oh, I'm sorry," he said, hugging his cousin. Hikari couldn't help but laugh.

"C'mon here, Hiroki-kun," she said softly, reaching out a hand. The child looked at her for a moment, and then grew shy again. He hugged Takeru tightly, but did not look away from Hikari. "Come on, we can get to know each other," she said. Slowly, Hiroki-kun walked towards her and took her hand. "That's it! Hi, how are you?" She carried him away from the fridge and, before exiting the kitchen, she said to Takeru, "Go on and make him some baby formula, we'll be fine."

Takeru looked gratefully at her, and then, for the first time ever, he smiled a big smile at her before turning away to make some milk.

On that rainy day, Hikari witnessed a new side of Madman Takaishi: the warm person inside.

-X-

Hiroki-kun began to grow comfortable around Hikari as they sat in the living room, waiting for Takeru to come with the baby formula. Hiroki was actually talkative — although Hikari had problems understanding what he was talking about. Hikari then decided to teach the boy how to say Takeru's name correctly.

"Hiroki-kun, say 'ta'."

"Ta…?"

"That's it, 'ta'…'taaa'~"

"Ta ta!"

"Okay, now — say 'ta'," she said.

"Ta~"

"Keru."

Hiroki pointed at the kitchen. "Keru-niichan."

"No, no — say 'ta'…"

"Ta~"

"Taa, Keru-niichan."

Hiroki pointed at the kitchen again. "Ta?"

"Yes, Ta…Keru-niichan. Go on, Takeru-niichan."

"Ta~ Keru-niichan!" said the little boy. Hikari clapped her hands and Hiroki-kun followed, grinning. "Takeru-niichan!"

"Yeay, he finally got your name, Takeru," she told Takeru.

"Great," came the usual short reply. He then appeared from the kitchen. "So how did you do it?"

"Taa, Keru-niichan!" Hiroki-kun said, pointing at his older cousin, and then turned at Hikari, smiling.

"Yes, good boy, Hiroki-kun!" she said. "Now, what's my name? What's my name, Hiroki-kun?"

The boy shook his head. "No name."

"No name?" she repeated before laughing. She heard Takeru laughed silently as well before joining them. He sat next to Hiroki (who was in the middle) and handed him his bottle. Hiroki-kun took it and began to drink. "It's Hikari onechan!"

"Onechan," said Hiroki-kun before lying on Takeru's lap, looking sleepy once more. Takeru softly patted his cousin by the shoulder — and silence visited them again. Hikari smiled as she saw Hiroki-kun's eyes began to close slowly, and then he drifted into sleep.

"He's so adorable," she said. "And a fast learner."

"…Wonder why he'd never get my name correct before…"

"Because you're not a good teacher," Hikari said. The other rolled his eyes, but there was a small smile on his face. There was another long pause, but Hikari didn't find it disturbing because she was busy watching Hiroki-kun sleep. She had baby cousins too, but it had been quite a while since she had last seen them. She loved children so much, and Hiroki-kun was simply a charming one.

"Ne, Hikari."

"Mmm?" she replied absently, still watching the sleeping Hiroki-kun. There was a pause.

Hey wait a sec. Did he just called me by my _first_name?

She looked at him quickly, but his blue eyes were looking at his feet. Hesitantly, he spoke:

"You know that day at the super market?"

"Yeah. What about it?" she asked, trying to sound calm.

"You said something about…being friends. Right?" he continued, still not meeting her eyes.

"Mm-hm."

"D'you still mean it?" he finished, looking at her finally.

"_Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait — what is he saying?"_

"_Baka, he's saying, 'let's be friends'!"_

"_But are you sure?"_

"_Yeah, what __**else **__could he mean by it?"_

Hikari sat up properly, and observed him — she was frowning a little but she was also smiling. Slowly, the usual pink glow appeared on Takeru's cheeks.

"Yea, of course I still mean it," she said. "You were the one who's too proud to accept my offer, anyway."

Takeru muttered something under his breath, and there was a pause for a while. "So…friends?" he asked, holding out his hand. There was something about him at the moment — he didn't look cold or unfriendly, he simply looked like a quiet, shy kid who needed friends but was too shy to make one.

Hikari smiled wider, and took his hand. "Friends." He smiled back at her (though he still looked a little shy). Surprisingly, his hand was warm and wasn't as cold as he looked.

DING! DONG!

The two let go quickly, and Takeru carefully stood up and removed Hiroki-kun from his lap. He jogged to the door as another DING! DONG! came. "Coming, coming," he called out. Hikari heard voices, and then Takeru came back.

"It's your brother," he said.

"Oh — right," she said and picked up her things. "So, see ya tomorrow. And bring those books along, please. There's just a little bit more, and then we're done on the 'heroes of the past' part."

Takeru just nodded to indicate that he understood.

"And as for the text—"

"Hurry up, Hika," said Taichi.

"Okay, hold on a sec — as for the text, I think Daisuke's on it—"

"That Durian Head?" Takeru repeated, frowning.

"He's not all that bad—"

"Hikari! Hurry up, I paused my game!" Taichi whined. Hikari put her shoes back on and stood up.

"So — err, see you again," she said, waving a little. "Tell Hiroki-kun it was nice meeting him."

"Sure."

With that, the two Yagamis departed from apartment number 108. Taichi looked at Hikari with a frown on his face.

"Why are you grinning?" he asked slowly.

"I'm not grinning," she replied, "I was smiling."

"Okay, whatever — why are you _smiling _then?"

"Nothing."

Taichi looked at her for a while, and then back at the apartment door behind them. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"_No!_" Hikari said. "His baby cousin was there, too — you should've seen him! He's so cute and he's very smart." After hearing this, her brother looked relieved. The two went back home (with Hikari humming happily under her breath and Taichi blabbering about his _Radiata Stories _game), and the rain stopped right after they got inside their house.

"You should've waited until the rain stops, then I wouldn't have to fetch you and pause my game," Taichi said, sitting down in front of his PS2 to continue his game. Hikari quietly agreed with Taichi: if she had stayed a little longer, perhaps she could get to know Takeru better…

—X—

**FashionGuru: **You seem to be in a good mood today

**I'm1800cmTall: **yeah?

**FashionGuru: **Yes. I mean like, you rarely chat with me.

**I'm1800cmTall: **Didn't notice that.

**FashionGuru: **So did your classmates find your house OK?

**I'm1800cmTall: **yep

**FashionGuru: **And hey, Hikari Yagami is frm your class, rite?

**I'm1800cmTall: **yep

**FashionGuru: **She's in the newspaper club with me.

**I'm1800cmTal: **ok

**FashionGuru: **you're doing it again~

**I'm1800cmTall: **what's that?

**FashionGuru: **Ignoring me!

**I'm1800cmTall: **M I?

**FashionGuru: **Yes! you're giving me short replies!

**I'm1800cmTall: **Then what am I supposed t'do? Give you lengthy replies?

**FashionGuru: **What about asking me about my day.

**I'm1800cmTall: **how was your day?

**FashionGuru: **(groans)

**FashionGuru: **She's charming, isn't she?

**I'm1800cmTall: **who is?

**FashionGuru: **Hikari-chan

**I'm1800cmTall: **Dunno.

**FashionGuru: **you don't think so?

**I'm1800cmTall: **I said I dunno.

**FashionGuru: **I just think she's sweet and lovely and all that~~~

**I'm1800cmTall: **Whatever. Look, Hiroki-kun is waking up, so. Ja, Arya-san.

**FashionGuru: **Don't you DARE ignore me!

**I'm1800cmTall is now offline**

The graceful figure leaned back against the chair. She stared at the computer screen for several minutes, and then her lips curled into a smirk.

* * *

**A/N: **Next chapter, LET'S GO GO GO~~~!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **Do not own, hak hak hak…

**A/N: **Eighth chapter. As for **"who is FashionGuru", **here's a quote from the previous chapter:

* * *

_**I'm1800cmTall: **Whatever. Look, Hiroki-kun is waking up, so. Ja**, Arya-san.**_

* * *

8. Are You In Love? Answer the Questions Below:

**1. You find his or her name everywhere?**

She found it hard to forget a certain blonde that night, as she lay awake on her bed. She didn't notice it at first, but her diary entries — most of them — had Takeru's name in it. She did it unconsciously, because she felt like Takeru was already apart of her life — the way you feel your teddy bear is apart of your life.

* * *

_13th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_Mum's toothache seems pretty bad. Dad had to take her to the dentist on the afternoon and Taichi had to cook lunch, because I was at the school library with Group Four..._

_...And that Takeru, he managed to pick the right chapter just like that! I mean..._

* * *

_14th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_HE FREAKIN' CALLED ME **FAT! **I AM **SO** NOT FAT! LIKE, I WEIGH 42KG! DIE, TAKAISHI, DIE...!_

* * *

_15th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_Well, everythingw as kinda OK today. But Daisuke and that Blondie had this arguement..._

* * *

_16th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_Today Takeru seemed a bit quiet, I mean like, too quiet than usual..._

* * *

_17th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_...Today...I just realised that Takaishi is actually left-handed..._

* * *

_18th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_That Takeru..._

* * *

_19th May_

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_Takeru Takaishi is probably the most annoying person that I have met in my entire life! He actually had a go at my fav pen! Like, urgh, just get off my pen already! And then Kumiko..._

* * *

**2. You find that you're always observing him or her?**

Hikari quickly snapped her diary close and shoved it beneath her pillows. She then hugged her teddy bear tightly, and curled up on her bed. What is this? Oh, yeah — we just became friends, right? But Daisuke had been her friend since she first moved here, but _his _name didn't appear on each page of her diary…and she didn't notice whether Daisuke was left-handed, or what his scent smelled like or whether he seemed to be extra cold for the day or anything...

She shifted into another position so that she was staring out the window at the starry sky. And then slowly, an image of Takeru appeared right in front of her: his face was pink and was asking her whether she would be his friend . . . .

It suddenly occurred to her that Takeru probably never asked anyone else to be his friend, and that she could be the first person ever who dared to ask him such question as, "can we be friends?"

Hikari felt happy. Very, very happy — the excited kind of happiness, like when your mother sad you could have a new TV by tomorrow or when your boyfriend proposed to you. She pressed her face against her pillow and squealed happily.

"Hikari-chan, you OK in there?" came her mother's voice.

"Yes, mum, I'm perfectly fine!" she called back. She rolled to her right (her back facing the window now), and stared at the wall to see if Takeru appeared in her mind again.

And he did.

—X—

**3. You want to impress him or her all the time?**

"Hikari-chan, hurry up!" Taichi called again.

"Owh, please wait for a while, Taichi!" she called back. "Y-you can go first if you want!"

"C'mon, what's wrong? Is your book missing?"

Hikari combed her hair again. "No! Just go first, I'll be right behind ya!"

"Okay, whatever," said Taichi, and she heard the front door closed. Frowning deeply, she combed her hair again, and then looked at her hairclips. She stood there, hands on her waist, and mumbled alone.

"The butterfly ones, or the plain ones…?" Her eyes caught sight of her rubber bands and ribbons. "Or should I use these?"

"Hikari-chan?" came her mother's voice, and then she saw her reflection entered her room.

"Err — yes, mum!" she said, quickly picking up a butterfly hair clip and a plain one. She held them up to her mother. "Butterfly, or no butterfly?"

Her mother frowned a little. "I thought you like both of them?"

Hikari picked up a ribbon and a rubber band. "Which one? Blue or green?"

Her mother smiled and approached her. "Hika, you're already pretty no matter which one you choose," she said, taking one butterfly hair clip and clipping it onto her hair. "See?" She looked at her in the mirror, and smiled. "Now go on, you'll be late."

Hikari looked at her reflection, and frowned. "Are you sure I look OK? I mean, how's my hair?"

"It's perfectly perfect," said her mother. Hikari smiled back.

"Okay," she said. "I'm off then — bye mum, see you after school!"

"Be careful," he mother said.

Hikari kept repairing her hair as she walked to school: she would comb her hair with her fingers, and then check if her hairclip's OK. But when school came into view, she stopped all the fussing in case people around notice her weird behaviour.

"Ohayo gozaimas', everyone!" she greeted as usual as she entered her class. She wasn't as early as she usually was (because she stood in front of the mirror for twenty minutes), so most of her classmates were already there.

"Hikari-chan! I thought you weren't coming at all," said Daisuke as she sat down on her chair. "Hey, nice hair clip!"

"Er — oh? Mmm, thank you," she said, pushing her hair behind her ears and pretended to look for a book in her bag.

_OK great. Durian H — I mean, Daisuke noticed your hair clip…but I was hoping for…_

"Looking for this?"

Hikari (and Daisuke) turned to look at Takeru. His outstretched hand was holding a notebook, and Hikari recognised it at once. It was hers, but she didn't even notice it was gone.

"Hey, that's mine," she said. "Thanks for —"

But before she could finish her sentence, Daisuke snatched the notebook away from Takeru.

"You could've just given it to _me, _Goldie Locks!" he said. Hikari heard Takeru said, "Whatever" quietly, and then he returned to his desk and continued to stare out the window. "So, Hikari-chan! Are you coming to my sister's birthday party?"

"Huh? When's that?" she asked (her mind still full of Takeru).

"This Saturday at nine! I managed to invite Kumiko along," said Daisuke.

"Wow, that's surprising," said Hikari.

"And invite your brother Taichi along! I've seen him play soccer—"

"When?"

"— And he's got all these cool moves and scored three goals! Man, I wanna _be _him one day! And then there's just something about his kick, ya know, that somehow…"

Daisuke's voice faded away slowly, along with all the chatting and buzzing. Hikari was looking at Takeru's blue, blue eyes: they still look lonely, though not as cold as the first time she'd met him…but there was something else… Earlier, Hikari used to think of him as a stuck-up punk, the useless, show off Shoe Washer, but now, all she saw was a lonely figure living in his own dark world, and the door to the brighter world was locked and he didn't seem to know where to find the key…or _what _the key was…

Friendship. The key out of his dark world is friendship.

"…So, hoping to see ya this Saturday! Nine o' clock, all right?"

"Yeah," said Hikari, as she made up her mind while staring at Takeru's eyes, "sure. No problem."

**4. You often feel like spending time with him or her?**

During lunch break, Hikari hung back in class, and then as Takeru exited the class, she followed. She must be a good stalker, she said to herself, for Takeru or other students didn't seem to notice that she was following a certain someone. Takeru was actually heading for the library, and if she weren't in the same class as he was, she would've been surprised: _the _Takeru Takaishi, who loved to skip classes and sleep during lessons, is actually visiting the _library?_

She let Takeru enter first, and lingered around the corridor for a moment. When she thought it was okay to enter, she entered.

There were very few people in there — because it was lunch break — and Hikari spotted several familiar faces: there was Mr. Seimaru (he was talking in a low voice with the librarian, Mrs. Iris Fedorovich), Junichi from the newspaper club (who was actually asleep behind his opened book), and Harukichi. She spotted Takeru at once: he sat at the back of the library, and had several books on the table in front of him. Determination filled her body as she walked towards him, trying to look calm and as if she was there by mere coincidence.

She pulled out _'The Best Poems in a Decade'_ and then stood there behind Takeru's chair. Taking a deep breath, she walked up to his table and pulled out the chair opposite him. He didn't lift his head, but his eyes moved to look at her.

Without saying anything, she sat down. She registered Takeru reaching out for his notebook and writing something in it. When he was done, he passed it to her. He had written something with his slightly messy handwriting.

_Not hungry?_

She took out her own pencil and wrote:

_No. You?_

She passed it back to him, and he shook his head slowly as a reply. They continued reading for a while, and then she took the notebook from him (and the other raised his eyebrows) and wrote:

_Daisuke's sister's birthday. This Saturday, wanna come?_

He took his time reading the message before replying:

_Heck NO._

She couldn't help grinning.

_Aw, c'mon. Why not?_

He rolled his eyes and began to write a reply:

_Because his sister is as bad as he is._

Hikari frowned at him after reading the message.

_It's OK if you hate him, but how d'you know his sister's personality before you met her?_

Takeru replied:

_I've met her, all right. She used to be all over my niisan like stalking and cheering and bothering him all day. He couldn't even breathe when she's around._

Hikari raised her eyebrows. Okay, so how many people here actually knew Yamato Ishida? Sora and the others, and Daisuke's sister too?

_Wow, he sounds like a popular person, your niisan._

Takeru smiled a little as he read her message.

_Main vocalist of his band. Go figure._

Oh, so that's why!

_He **sings? **Wicked cool! Don't you?_

His expression changed almost at once as he read this.

_Over my dead body first, Yagami._

Hikari smiled.

_OK fine if you don't want to sing. Or maybe you can't. Anyway, c'mon, just come along on Saturday. It'll be great. I mean, heck, don't you like birthday parties? You get to eat all you want without even paying for anything! Candies, cakes, soft drinks, think about it! And the games and prizes you could win — if there are prizes to be won, that is…_

This time Takeru smiled. It was rare to see him smile, and Hikari thought that time with Hiroki-kun would be the last time she'd ever see him smile like this. But she was wrong. His reply, too, was similar to his actions:

_: D_

She frowned, and looked at him. He was reading his book, but the smile was still there. Her frown deepened as she wrote:

_What's so funny?_

The smile didn't go away as he wrote the reply. He passed the notebook back to her when he was done writing, and then he stood up and walked towards the nearest shelf to pick other books. With one last glance at the tall figure, she read his message:

_You remind me of my mother back when she wasn't so busy. We used to get into arguments and fights and I'll end up locking myself in my room. And then she'd pass a piece of paper with her message on it through the gap between the door and the floor. She usually wrote about happy things to cheer me up. I'd lean against my door and reply her messages for hours and hours, until one of us gave up. _

Hikari looked at Takeru again when she was finished reading his reply. So this guy _was _a real lip-locker, ever at home. Hikari tried to remember the times when she had argued with her mother, but found that there were very little of them. Even if she did get into a fight with her, they would become friends again in like ten seconds. To think of someone who had no friends at all and even argue with his own mother made her feel sad for a moment, all of a sudden…

Takeru sat back down, and read the book. Hikari did the same and read _'The Best Poems in a Decade'. _Time moved on, and at last Hikari wrote a reply:

_Who usually gave up first? You or your mother?_

His slightly messy handwriting read:

_(Grins) Me. I'd open the door and go, 'I'm sorry' and I'd hug her._

She smiled again.

_You're funny._

He frowned.

_Am not._

She grinned. One whole page was full of their writings, and so she flipped to a new page.

_You need more friends. The birthday party would be perfect for you to look for them. C'mon, it'll be fun! Trust me on this one, I **love **birthday parties!_

He managed to write a reply before the bell rang.

_I'm surprised you don't weigh 100kg from eating all those cakes and candies._

He went on ahead out of the library, and after reading his message, Hikari frowned and whispered a, "WHAT!" before catching up with the blonde.

—X—

**5. Are you excited when you hear his or her voice early in the morning?**

"Hika, phone call!" her father said on Saturday morning.

"Coming!" she called back, racing out of her room. Expecting it to be Miharu or Kumiko, she answered the phone with her usual cheerful voice. "Morning, Hikari here!"

There was silence for a while before someone from the other end replied. "Um. Hey, err — s'me."

"Oh, hey Takeru," she said, frowning a little as she sat down on the chair next to the phone. "Where did you get my number from?"

"…Kumiko. Daisuke gave her my number and asked her to call me to give me the address but Kumiko was in a hurry, so she asked me to call you instead." His voice sounded as if he had just woke up.

"O…kaay, a bit confusing…so want the address, huh?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Pen and paper ready?"

"Mm-hmm."

"It's number 7456, second floor, the first block, the Apartment Near The Soccer Field."

There was a pause. "Izzat really the address?" came Takeru's voice. He sounded irritated and Hikari could imagine how his face would look like at the moment. Hikari laughed.

"Yeah, that's the address he gave me," she said. "So you're really coming?"

"Yea, guess so," he said. She then heard something in the background: a door was opened and then — "Ta, Keru-niichan! Cartoon on tee-vwee!" — and then, "Okay, Takeru-niisan will be right there — no, Hiroki-kun, don't pull — erh, I got to go, Hikari — Hiroki-kun, wait, don't—!"

And then he hung up. Hikari was laughing at the moment as she imagined Hiroki-kun pulling Takeru (who just woke up) towards the living room to watch cartoons. She was also very glad and happy and excited that the blonde agreed to come along. It was a good sign that he was, at last, trying to make new friends.

—X—

**Are You In Love? Answer the Questions Below:**

**1. You find his or her name everywhere?**

_Monday _

_That new kid Yagami is very, very disturbing. Heck, she's a busy body._

**2. You find that you're always observing him or her?**

_The hairclip was pretty. Wait. Why am I writing this?_

**3. You want to impress him or her all the time?**

_She finds chapter nine OK, too. And I think she's starting to believe in me as the team leader. Only that stupid Durian Head wouldn't…_

**4. You often feel like spending time with him or her?**

…_Maybe the birthday party's gonna be fine. She'll be there so she'll know what to do. Or. At least. Urgh. Whatever…_

**5. Are you excited when you hear his or her voice early in the morning?**

_She sounds cheerful, even in the morning. I thought she was just acting cheerful at school, but I think I might be wrong this time._

—X—

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

They wished Daisuke's sister happy birthday together, and then Daisuke began to throw balloons around the house and everyone clapped and cheered. Jun Motomiya sliced her huge blueberry cake _(A/N: I hate blueberry cake. Dunno why I wrote 'blueberry' in the first place…) _and everyone began to eat.

"…And then there was this annoying player, who thought he was a sort of God or something," Taichi was saying to Daisuke, who was listening very closely. "And then he was — hey…Hika?"

"What?" she asked, and then sipped her lemonade.

"_That's _Yamato's little brother, right?" Taichi asked, pointing.

"Yeah."

"Ignore him, Taichi-san!" said Daisuke. "He's just a stupid Goldie Locks…I don't even know why he's here—"

"Yo, Takeru! Come over here!" Taichi called. The blonde looked a bit puzzled, but when both Taichi and Hikari waved a hand at him, he stood slowly and sat with them. "Sora's told me a lot about your brother, so I'm curious about _you _now. Play soccer at all?"

Daisuke snorted. "Like, _never."_

Takeru ignored him and replied in his usual quiet voice, "A little."

"He's in the basketball team at school," Hikari said.

"Ooh! Basketball, hey? Err, it's never really my game, but I really find it wicked!" said Taichi. "The thing is — err, I'm not so good in jumping and all…so, eheh…"

"Yeah, he once fell head first onto the ground when playing against our cousin!" Hikari said, laughing. Takeru smiled and looked as if he tried not to laugh.

"Mou, Hikari! Don't tell him embarrassing things about me, that's called 'giving bad impressions'!"

"Well, it's true!"

"Owh, you—! Hey, Takeru, you know what? Hikari here, she once kneeled in front of the TV—"

"Taichi! Be quiet—"

"And then she—"

"_Oniisan!"_ Hikari placed a hand over Taichi's mouth and her brother struggled. "Oh, go get us some drink, Taichi!" She pushed him off his chair. "Go, _go! _Urgh…"

Hikari was glad that Takeru came. Daisuke was shocked (like, a LOT), but when his sister saw Takeru she invited him almost at once and attacked him with questions about Yamato. But all in all, they had great fun. There was musical chair (Kumiko and Taichi shoved each other violently for the last chair, and Kumiko actually _won), _and candies and sweets and cakes and everything that Hikari told Takeru about during their pencil-and-paper chat in the library.

She also got to see the blonde smile. Somehow, that made her day.

—X—

**6. You find him or her charming when he or she is smiling?**

_Dear Mr. Diary,_

_He actually came today! I mean, he was kinda shy and looked out-of-place, but hey! He got used to it and all...and I actually got to see him smile and laugh! Like, whoa! And I know it was totally fun and alll and we all had..._

* * *

_Saturday_

_She is very pretty when she smiles. Prettier when she laughs..._

* * *

**If your answers are 'yes', 'yes', 'yes', 'yes', 'yes' and 'yes', the result is:**

**Yes, you ARE in LOVE.**

* * *

**A/N: **(INHALES! EXHALES!) PHEW!


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **Do not own, ho ho ho…

**A/N: **Ninth chapter. Sorry for the late (?) update, but I just HAD to catch up with some sleep!

* * *

9. I Love You

"Body language makes up 50 to 100 percent of a conversation, whether we mean it or not. Since people don't always say what they…"

She's just good in communicating. There wasn't even a second that she didn't smile — the class seemed to love her speech and, as far as he could see, no one's fallen asleep. Even Miss Ishikawa was smiling.

"…Okay, here's something fascinating: Most people cross their arms if they're feeling defensive, or negative," Hikari explained in front of the class, "So even if someone says they agree with you, if they then cross their arms they really don't…"

His blue eyes looked away from the person he wanted to look at so much, and instead he stared out the window, and sighed quietly. He felt…very helpless right now. It was as if he was a mute who could not confess what he was feeling — and yet again he was a deformed mute: one who had no hands to talk to people using signals or using pen and paper…his true feeling towards her was buried deep inside, locked in a cage.

"_Mum?"_

_His mother looked away from the computer quickly. "Yes, Takeru dear?"_

_He entered the room and sat on a chair far away from his mother. "We need to talk."_

_Natsuko sat facing her son. "Okay, sure." But she looked concerned. He knew why: he rarely came to his mother to discuss about things, and even if they had a discussion about something, usually it was his mother who said, "We need to talk", not him. "What about?"_

_He stared at the floor for a moment. "About…a classmate of mine. A girl."_

_His mother sighed deeply and closed her eyes. He didn't even mention a name yet, or that he had a crush on this 'classmate of his', but his mother seemed to know what was going on already._

"_Takeru — listen. It's…it's just a mere attraction — I mean… Your grandmother has everything planned—"_

"_Niisan told me she had everything planned for **you **too, years back before you got married to dad," he cut across her. He refused to meet her eyes._

"Takeru? Takeru Takaishi?"

He looked away from the window.

"Were you paying attention at all?" Miss Ishikawa asked. He didn't reply and the teacher sighed. "Could you repeat the facts that Miss Yagami had explained to us just now?"

Everyone was looking at him. Even Hikari — but her gaze was different from the others: she looked concerned instead of irritated for not listening to her speech. Slowly, he stood up.

"Crossing your arms means you disagree," he said, "a lot of shrugging and hand-to-face gestures means you're lying, tilting your head to the side indicates you're interested, while supporting your head using your hand shows boredom."

The class was quiet.

"Is that correct, Miss Yagami?" the teacher asked, turning to the brown haired girl. She nodded at her, and the teacher sighed. "Very well then…please don't day dream while I'm in your class. Show some respect to the teacher in front and to your friend here — she's giving you a lot of interesting information, Takaishi. So please — one more time and I'll have to give you detention."

Hikari carried on, and the class turned their attention away from him. Again, he sighed quietly.

—X—

"Hey, you."

He stopped reading and looked. It was Hikari. "Hey."

She drew her chair and sat down right next to him. "Anything the matter?"

His blue eyes looked at her warm brown ones, and them he returned to the book, smiling a little.

"Oh, c'mon! I know something's up — don't you dare turn away from me," she said warningly. When he didn't reply, she stood up. "Fine, Takaishi. Keep it that way until you can no longer bear it!" She stuck out her tongue (but in a playful way) and was about to walk out of class (it was lunch break), but then his eyes caught sight of something.

"Oi, hold on a sec—!" He quickly grabbed her left hand, and she spun around, surprised. He examined her finger and saw it again: a cut. "What happened here?" he asked, looking at her. He knew he didn't sound or _looked _concerned — because somehow he was good at hiding his true feelings — but he really was.

She grinned and looked rather embarrassed. "I, uh…cut myself when I was making dinner, heh…"

Takeru rolled his eyes. "You sound like a bad chef."

"Ooh, thank you very much," she said. He reached into his pocket and his fingers immediately found a band aid. He took it out. "You bring that thing to school?" she asked. "Then — you could've just place it over that cut of yours on your own back when you got —"

But at times, he couldn't hide his feelings. He knew his face was pink right now. "I intended to give something back to you in return…" None of them spoke as he wrapped the band aid carefully around her finger. When he was done, he said, "…But I never get the chance to do so."

Their eyes met again. This time, they were both staring at one another deeply — but none said a word. He didn't know why he didn't notice her before…her brown eyes were always so friendly and warm…

"Thank you, Hikari," he said at last, breaking the silence.

"You're welcome," she said, smiling. Her face was steadily turning into a shade of pink. "And thank you to you, too."

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I mean it. Thanks…for being my friend."

She looked at him and then said, "If…you have a problem or anything, feel free to talk to me."

Silence visited them once more. But he knew his face was going scarlet, so he quickly let go of her hand (they've been holding hands all the while) and returned to his book. He noticed Hikari repairing her hair before going out of the class in a very quick pace.

He sighed alone again, and looked at the direction where Hikari had gone to. Maybe…_maybe _he didn't have to follow the rules, after all. That was what his brother always told him — follow your heart and don't listen to others. Take your time and decide for yourself. Don't let some old woman decide for you just because she's your grandmother…

_"You didn't listen to her as well," he said. These words, somehow, made his mother fell quiet for a minute or two. "She had someone else in mind—"_

"_Takeru," her mother said warningly._

"—_But you went on and married dad instead—"_

"_This is a family tradition!"_

"_And yet no one's followed it," he said in a loud voice, standing up. Silence took over, and it was a tense moment. "You once said niisan and I are the best children you could ever have."_

"_I know. And I still mean it," she said gently._

"_Then — if you married the man grandmother picked some years ago instead of dad, we wouldn't be 'the best children you could ever have'."_

"…_I know," his mother said quietly, looking at her feet._

"…_Just because grandmother's marriage was a planned marriage…it doesn't mean all of us must go through a planned marriage too." His mother inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, and looked as if she were about to cry._

"_Honey, listen," she began slowly. "…I didn't listen to your grandmother — and somehow I regretted that because…right now, I'm…not living with the very man I chose."_

"…_But it's not your fault," he pointed out quietly. "You didn't know what the future held for you."_

_"Takeru, this is enough," said his mother. "You're young, and this crush wouldn't last long—"_

"_What if it lasts throughout my life?"_

"—_So you'll go through the engagement ceremony this year, no matter what," she finished, and returned to the computer. Takeru stood there for a while, but his mother didn't say anything anymore. So he decided to leave._

"_Niisan also told me," he said before exiting, "that dad's told him a secret when he was drunk. You and him met back when you were eleven. But I guess it was only a teenage crush."_

Takeru sighed, and then stood up with his bag. He was going to skip class, all the way to the end of school.

—X—

"Hey, wait up Takeru!"

He stopped as he heard his name being called out. He turned to see who it was, and smiled a small smile as he saw Hikari standing there with her hands on her waist. She then approached him, and then began to walk together.

"Why did you skip class?" Hikari asked at once. "Our English teacher went berserk — he threatened to report your attitude to the headmaster—" he smiled at this, "— this _isn't _funny!" There was a pause where he continued to stare at the ground as they walked on in silence. He was aware that Hikari was observing him — in fact, he noticed that she was frowning as she stared at him.

She sighed. "Why do you skip classes so much?" she asked.

_Why do I skip classes so much? _This was a good question, actually. He never really knew why he skipped classes — maybe because he didn't want to be in a room full of people. He wanted to be alone, alone with his own thoughts. Or maybe because he was a lazy person.

Slowly, he shrugged.

"Oh yeah, I forgot — cuz you're already so smart," said Hikari in reply, rolling her eyes. After a brief pause, she spoke, "Okay then, why are you so quiet at times? I mean, don't you want to chat with us? Or discuss about things? Honestly, gossiping isn't so bad either, you know."

_Why am I so quiet at times? …Why…?_

He looked at her and asked quietly, "Must I answer that?"

"Yep!" she said. He looked away again, and thought for a moment. Why was he a quiet person? He wasn't sure about it… If ever he was involved in a discussion, he didn't know how to voice out his thoughts. He would listen to others, and only at times, he would join in. But he'd try to avoid discussions at all times. The fact was, he wasn't good in communicating like Hikari was, and he didn't know just how to turn his thoughts into words.

"Hmm…" he said, and then stopped. "…Because I dunno what to say."

He heard the other laughed. "You big, fat, blonde liar," she said laughingly. "Don't tell me you don't have _anything _to say about Mika's sickly sick perfume! Or our English teacher's balding head!"

Takeru broke the promise he'd made to himself years ago: not to show your true feelings to others, especially those you don't know — because he grinned as he heard the cheerful Hikari laughing and calling him a _big, fat, blonde liar. _

"Well…_that — _yeah. But I think she'd explode if I said anything about it."

"I think so too, ya know," she whispered loudly (and jokingly), as if Mika was within earshot. "Owh, what's so hard about talking to other people? Just express yourself, voice out your thoughts…"

"It's just…hard for me."

"It's not, trust me," she said, smiling at him. "Just remember, when you say something, you must mean it. Those words must come from your heart. But sometimes, words alone aren't enough…you could express your feelings through actions too — oh, this is your apartment, right?"

He nodded quietly, looking at her beautiful smile.

"Right, see ya again — and don't skip anymore classes!" she warned. "Maybe we can chat later!" she added, and then waved at him. Hesitantly, he waved back, and watched as the girl who he had quietly admired walked back home.

He smiled as he entered the elevator. She just had this amazing ability to charm him, and she looked at things in a very good way. She rarely complained, and smiled almost all the time.

Takeru made up his mind — he had to fight for himself. And he was going to do it, whether his mother _or _grandmother liked it or not.

—X—

He set out early that Saturday morning because of two reasons: to go for a jog around the neighbourhood, and to avoid seeing his mother. They hadn't seen each other from eye to eye ever since that conversation. He didn't want to talk to her. He wanted to show that he disagreed on the whole engagement thingy. He didn't know _how _he could've agreed with it years back when she told him about it…maybe because he was still young — and because he hadn't met Hikari yet…

He'd been running for hours when he decided it was enough. Sweating and breathing heavily, he took a left junction towards the Inoue's Shop as usual — he'd buy a bottle of mineral water and some chewing gum before heading back home. He entered the empty shop (it was still early) and stopped to catch his breath. Slowly he walked towards the 'DRINKS' section and grabbed a bottle of mineral water before walking towards the 'SNACKS' section. He scanned the chewing gum there and quickly spotted his favourite one. After taking two packs of them, he walked slowly — his legs ached from all the running — towards the counter.

Coincidence or destiny, he didn't know, but there she was: the brown haired girl, Hikari. She seemed to be doing some shopping for her mother, for there was a basket full of grocery things. She was chatting happily with the elder woman at the counter.

"Thanks, Hikari-chan! Do come again."

"Okay, Mrs. Inoue — oh, I'm sor — hey, ohayo Takeru!"

"Ohayo," he replied, still a little breathless. He placed the bottle and the two packs of chewing gum onto the counter and Mrs. Inoue began to total the price up.

"Wow, you must be getting ready for the basketball match, aren't you?" Hikari asked.

He nodded a little. "Can't lose to them." The other smiled while he paid for the things. "And you? Out shopping so early?"

"Yeah, today's supposed to be Taichi's turn but he's sleeping like a log! Wouldn't even wake up if I say our house is under attack…"

They both stepped out of the shop, and Takeru began to drink. Now that she's here…maybe he would just…

"How long have you been jogging?" she asked.

"Hmm?" He wiped his mouth and thought for a while. "Since six o' clock."

"_Six?" _She looked at her watch. "It's almost nine now!"

"I did stop occasionally," he pointed out. She gave a small, "Oh", and then they walked down the street. "You going this way too?"

"Yeah, my house is just over there," she said, pointing at one of the tall apartments. "Hey, you know — I just learned something wicked from my old friend last night!"

He raised his brows slowly. "Yeah?"

"Yeah!" she said excitedly. Her brown eyes lit up and she suddenly grabbed his hand. "C'mon, I'll show it to you…"

"…Kay."

They kept on walking, but very slowly, because Hikari was examining his palm again and again. There was determination on her face, as if she really wanted to impress him with something — and that look she made somehow managed to make him smile slowly.

Their small paces occasionally stopped, for Hikari seemed to be really interested with his palm. He stood there with one hand holding the mineral bottle and the other being examined. The girl was mumbling something like, "Worse fear" and "True self".

"Is this a sort of prediction or something?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, just watch!" she said, grinning. "Right, spread your fingers."

He did so quietly, his blue eyes observing her. She began to run her fingers along all of _his _fingers, and then smiled happily.

"Ahah, I've got it!" she said. He raised his eyebrows again.

"Okay, impress me."

She made a face and said, "Very well then!" She cleared her throat before saying, "Right, Takeru Takaishi…let's see, your deepest desire is to be united with the people you love again, and you're actually very sweet inside."

He laughed quietly. "Me? _Sweet?"_

She nodded like a child. He looked at her like, "You joking right?", but when she didn't say anything, he laughed quietly again.

"Well, it's up to you to believe it or not, try to think if it's true or otherwise," she said and then returned to look at his palm. "Okay. You hate…uh." She looked up at him, frowning. "You hate _durians?"_

This one really made him laughed, and Hikari joined in, too, shortly after. Of course, by 'durian', he remembered Daisuke, and yes he hated him!

"All right, this is getting interesting," he said in between laughter. "What else?"

"Your worse fear is to be abandoned by those you love," she said. He fell quiet, and then looked away. This was, amazingly, true. He didn't remember his parents' divorce, but when Yamato announced that he and dad were moving away, he was thunderstruck. Without his brother, he had no real friends. Even now, that fear was still with him. He feared if he would lose Hikari. She was the only one who was kind enough to be friends with him, and even though they fought a lot during earlier days, she now didn't seem find him difficult. She was willing to spend some time with him, like what she was doing right now…

Imagine if he lost her. It would be like losing the light of his life…

"You okay?"

Her voice managed to bring him back to reality. "Oh — yeah…"

"And you're a bad liar," she added, looking at his palm, "I know something's not OK since yesterday — c'mon, you can tell me anything."

He looked at her. Should he tell her? About the engagement and about his true feelings towards her…?

"It's…nothing." He slowly pulled his hand away from her, and didn't look at her eyes.

"Owh, c'mon!" she said, nudging at him playfully. "Friends share, you know — problems, jokes and candies — we share everything!"

"Candies too?"

"Yeah!" she said. "And happiness and sadness, and Taichi even said you can beat up your friend if you're angry."

He smiled, and then thought for a while. Maybe it wasn't so bad to share things with other people. "Well. All right…"

She was quiet all the while when he was explaining.

"Well. Umm…there's this someone," he began, "this someone is very important to me. I have to tell this someone two things, one that might make this someone happy and one that might make this someone very sad."

"Izzit the wallet girl?" she asked quickly.

"I—" he stopped, and frowned. No, it wasn't the wallet girl, it's…

"You still haven't told me who the wallet girl is," she said excitedly. "Eh? Eh? Who is she?" He rolled his eyes and didn't reply. After an odd pause, she asked, "Is she someone you love?"

He sighed. "No, I want to be away from her…"

"Then why's her picture in your wallet?" she said in a demanding voice. Takeru looked at her, and the other seemed to have realised how demanding she sounded like, so she cleared her throat. "Err — yes, on with your trouble…"

"Right. Umm. So I…don't know how to tell y — I mean — this someone about those two things…"

There was silence where Hikari was thinking about something. "Do you have to tell this someone the news that might make him or her sad?"

He nodded slowly.

"But if you tell this someone that news, does that mean you no longer wish to be with him or her?"

He shook his head. "This someone is important…"

_It's you._

"Well," she said, "I know what you should do. First of, tell this someone that he or she is really important to you—"

_Hikari, you're really important to me._

"—And then tell him or her the news that might make him or her happy—"

_Hikari, I love you. And it doesn't matter if you love me back or not — I just want you to know that I love you._

"—But carefully say to this someone that there's something that might make him or her sad, and that you really don't mean it but it must happen."

_…But I must get engaged._

He eyed her deeply, wanting to remember her face, if possible, forever.

"D'you think you can do all that?" she asked as they walked on slowly. He nodded silently. "That's good then — remember to tell this someone about those news in a v—" She stopped as he suddenly stopped walking. She looked at him, surprised, as he suddenly took the basket in her hands and placed it on the ground. And then he took her hands. "…Takeru?"

"Tell her that she's important, right?" he repeated quietly. Hikari's brown eyes were wide, and her face was pink. The truth was, he was feeling both excited and nervous — and he was out of his mind. Confessing to her meant everything, and it might also ruin his relationship with his grandmother. But then again, love cannot be forced — his grandmother _can't _make him get engaged to someone he didn't love. "Hikari…maybe you never knew this before, but you're really important to me."

There was a pause, and then Hikari smiled uncomfortably. "Wait, Takeru…w-what—?"

"And I just want you to know that I…" He trailed off, looking at her brown eyes. She looked back at him, still very surprised. "…That I love you," he said quietly, but loud enough for her to hear.

_You told me yesterday that sometimes, words alone aren't enough…_

He held her by the shoulders…

…_And that I can express my feelings through actions…_

Never breaking their eye contact, he leaned in slowly…

_…Right?_

And their lips met.

* * *

**A/N: **?


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **Od Ton Nwo, al al al…

**A/N: **Tenth Chapter. Sorry for the late update, something suddenly attacked my bathroom. Thank God I wasn't inside at the moment.

* * *

10. Yamato Ishida's 'Good Luck'. And They Both Needed It.

Time stopped. The ground disappeared. The sky fell.

"Tell her that she's important, right?" he repeated her words quietly. She didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what to _think! _Him, _the _Takeru Takaishi, the guy she'd been observing, was saying these words to her! She was positive that the so-called 'important person' was the wallet girl, so all she wanted to do was to help Takeru, the guy she liked, out of his trouble — but she didn't expect _this!_

She registered him saying something, but only caught a few words. "…This before, but you're really important to me…"

C'mon, Hikari — say something! "Wait, Takeru…w-what?" she said once she had found her voice again. She was about to say, "I didn't catch that", but she simply couldn't. He had his quiet look on, but he seemed serious — his blue eyes were very, very pretty at the moment and she was stunned.

"And I just want you to know that I…"

He stopped, and looked at her in the eyes.

"_Yes! Yes! YES! YESSS! HE'S GONNA SAY THE WORD!"_

"…That I love you," he finished quietly.

Hikari wanted so much to squeal in happiness before passing out— but she was simply too stunned to do any of those things. Before she could reply (though she doubted that she _could _reply), Takeru held her by the shoulders.

"_Oh my God NOW HE'S GONNA KISS YOU!"_

She could hear her heartbeat going crazy — the whole Japan could hear it now!

Eyes still locked on one another, he leaned in slowly. Hikari could feel his warm breath, and now she could count those few freckles on his perfect face. He was so close right now — _so close — _that when she closed her eyes, she could still see those stunning blue orbs of his…

And then that was the historical moment of her life: her first kiss — and she was lucky, for she had her first kiss with someone she really, really loved. They stood there for a moment, kissing. And then slowly, they parted, and she once more saw those eyes. Right now, both of them were in the perfect shade of red. Somehow, his blushing face was really fascinating — he looked cute that way.

"…But it really doesn't matter whether you love me back or not," he said quietly after a few moment's pause. They stood there looking at each other's eyes, but then she did something stupid. She really, really didn't know what made her did it — she quickly grabbed her basket once more and ran, all the way back home.

He confessed! _He _confessed! To HER! Her whole body felt hot — she was excited, and happy, and nervous and shaking, all at once. She'd been telling herself that Takeru had another girl — the wallet girl — and since then, all she wanted to do was to help him get some new friends, but she had NEVER, EVER thought that he was feeling the same way as she was.

"I'M HOME!"

"Wow, volume, Hikari, volume!" Taichi called back. He was in front of the TV, playing _Radiata Stories _again. "What's with the shouting? Okay, I know it's supposed to be my turn today, but —"

"THANKSIE TAICHI, YOU'RE THE BEST BROTHER EVER!" she shouted, throwing her arms around Taichi into a strangle-like hug, only to let him go after a few seconds ("I'm your _only_ brother — ACK! — Hika, let go!"). She then squealed loudly like a mad rat and thundered into her room, locking the door. Inside, she stared at her reflection on the mirror, and grinned. "He likes you!" she said to her reflection. "Oh, no — I mean — he **loves **you! No kidding, he said so!"

And then she squealed some more, making her mother and father worried about her, but when she replied she was perfectly OK, they did calm down for a while — before she shouted a loud, "YEAY!", that is to say.

—X—

Natsuko woke up to a loud rock music coming from her second son's bedroom. Frowning and rubbing her eyes, she got out of bed and out of her room. The music was louder outside.

"Takeru?" she called. There was no answer. She knocked. "Takeru dear?" The loud music was going through a chorus of, "KIRIKIRIMAI, KIRIKIRIMAI!" Natsuko knocked again. "Takeru, slow down the volume! Honey? Takeru?"

"What's the matter?" came her sister's voice. She was carrying Hiroki-kun, who seemed to be wide-awake.

"I don't know, the music's too loud and he's not answering — Takeru, open the door!"

"Ta, Keru-niichan!" Hiroki-kun called, but still there was no reply. Natsuko heard her sister sighed.

"If you ask me, I think he's trying to tell you something."

"What?" Natsuko asked, her fist still knocking the door. "The engagement?"

"Yup," said her sister, and then she went back towards the guest room. "Kaasan knows that we're against her — I mean, look at you, you married Ishida-san, and by the looks of it, he managed to give you a life, and two great kids. And look at me, I had a divorce because the guy Kaasan picked for me was a jerk. What about your son, d'you want to ruin his life, too? Thank God Yamato's not apart of the Takaishis, otherwise I think _both _your sons will hate you for the rest of their lives…"

"Are you trying to say that Takeru _hates _me?" she said, knocking harder on the door. And then she tried to open it. "It's locked!"

"Well, what d'you expect?" her sister replied.

"Ta, Keru-niichan, Onechan, in love!" Hiroki-kun suddenly said. The other two looked at him, frowning.

"What was that again, Hiroki?" his mother asked. The little boy pointed at Takeru's bedroom door and said it again:

"Ta, Keru-niichan, Onechan, in love!"

Natsuko and her sister exchanged glances. "What Onechan, Hiroki-kun?

The boy shook merely grinned. "Onechan! Ta-Ta Onechan!"

"Ta-Ta Onechan?" his mother repeated. The two women looked at each other again, but none of them managed to understand what the boy was saying.

—X—

Hikari slowed down as she reached the corridor of her class. What should she do when she entered? Takeru would surely be there, but then again she had acted so stupid by running away that day when he confessed… She was sure that Takeru would think she was afraid of him, or hated him or anything…

She sighed. "Stupid Hikari," she said to herself before slowly walking towards the classroom door. She opened the door and muttered, "Ohayo…"

There was no one in the sunlit classroom — just the guy himself. He looked up as he saw the door opened, and then returned to his book once more. She walked towards her desk and sat. There was a tensed moment where Hikari wanted so much to tell him how sorry she was for running away yesterday, and that she loved him very much, too — but then again, how was she going to tell him just that? She was so embarrassed and now she didn't know how to start a conversation at all. She'd been practicing in front of the mirror the whole night, but right now she couldn't even open her mouth.

"Ne."

She quickly turned to him as he spoke. "Y-yes?" she replied, a little too quickly.

The other had his usual quiet look on, but honestly, lately, Hikari hadn't seen his cold look. She was proud because she was sure _she _was the one who managed to get rid of Mr. Ice Cold.

"Sorry about yesterday."

ARGH! Now look at what you've done! He's not supposed to apologise, it's not his fault! It's YOURS!

"No — no, no, listen, I—"

"I didn't mean to freak you out," he cut across her, standing up and walking towards the door.

_Come ON, spit it out! Say you love him too!_

"I love you too!" she blurted out. The other stopped in his tracks, and turned to face her, eyebrows raised. She was avoiding his eyes, but knew that wasn't what she was supposed to do. Face very red, she sighed. "I — I just…don't know what's wrong with me yesterday…I just…urgh. But don't get me wrong, really, I…" She trailed off, blushing redder and redder, before finishing her sentence quietly, "…I love you too."

They stood there, facing each other in silence. And then suddenly—

"Morning Hikari-chan! I managed to get as many information as I could — here, look at them. Oh, out of my way, Goldie Locks!" Daisuke shoved the blonde aside and handed Hikari a file. She took it, and then looked again, but Takeru was already walking out of the class, avoiding Kumiko who came thundering into the class screaming, "DAISUKE! THAT'S _MY _FILE!"

Well, at least he knew that you're not afraid of him.

Hikari discussed about the history project with the other two, her smile never leaving her face.

—X—

Hikari watched from behind as she slowly followed a certain blonde on the way back home. She was retracing each of his steps, and was actually waiting for him to turn around and wave and smile at her — but he didn't. Throughout school time, they didn't speak to each other, and Daisuke disturbed them more that he usually did. Hikari didn't have the chance to speak to Takeru without anyone else looking and eavesdropping, and right now, she was waiting for the right moment to speak to him, but…

She sighed, and stopped at the ice cream shop along the way.

"One ice cream please," she said gloomily.

"What flavour, dear?"

"…Anything would do."

The ice cream woman handed her a vanilla ice cream and she said thanks, and paid her some money. When she turned around, however, she gave a small shriek and accidentally let go of the ice cream. Takeru was standing behind her and had said nothing at all.

"God, you scared me!" she said, her hand on her chest. But at the same time she was glad he had approached her. There was his quiet look, but his face was a little pink.

"…Sorry." He then asked for another vanilla ice cream and handed it to her. "Would you perhaps…walk with me?"

She observed him with mild interest. "Yeah, sure."

And so they walked together, next to each other in silence: Hikari was licking her ice cream while Takeru looked as if he was thinking of something, his hands deep in his pockets. Hikari waited for him to talk, but then again, he must be a little shy.

"So," she began, "…what's up?"

His face turned slightly redder. He looked down at his feet as he mumbled, "Nothing… Well, nothing special, that is…"

She smiled softly. "Okay, if you say so."

"You know," he said after a pause, "I've been wondering."

She looked at him. "Yeah? About what?"

"Was that your _first_ kiss?"

Hikari turned scarlet. "What!"

The other laughed quietly. "Sorry, sorry…"

"W-well — well then — what about _you?" _she snapped back. "But then again I guess you flirt a lot — that must've been your 200th kiss!"

Takeru quickly apologised. "No — _no, _really it was…w-well, it was…" He trailed off. "…My first time, too…"

Both of them avoided each other's eyes for a moment, but were walking closer to one another with each step. Soon, their hands brushed against one another's and then Takeru touched her hand gently, before slipping his fingers in between hers to hold her hand.

"You were extremely calm, though," she commented after a while. She knew Takeru was smiling as he heard that.

"Thanks."

They walked like that, holding hands, and they didn't seem to want to let go. Takeru's warm hand was enough to tell her that he loved her, and so they remained that way.

Until an unknown voice interrupted from behind.

"Oi, Teeks!"

The blonde frowned, and turned around as he heard his name being called. Hikari turned, too, and saw someone she had never seen before: a blonde — very much like Takeru — who had a pair of identical blue eyes and was wearing a simple yet cool black T-shirt. He seemed to have put on a huge amount of hair gel, but nonetheless, it looked OK on him.

Takeru's frown disappeared, and instead, he put on a surprised and happy look. "Niisan! When did you get here?"

_Oh, so this is Yamato Ishida, huh?_

"Bout three hours ago," he said as he reached the two. He stopped and observed his little brother. "You've gotten taller?" he asked, frowning. Takeru rolled his eyes.

"I'm not eight."

"Haha, forgot," he said, before turning his attention to Hikari. She bowed politely. "Ho, ho, ho, let's see, let's see — is _someone _forgetting _what_ he's gonna go through this school holidays?"

Takeru gave a meaningful glare at his brother. "This is Hikari Yagami, a classmate of mine."

Hikari gave a smile. "Hello."

Yamato placed his hand over his chin, and observed her up and down. "Hi." After a moment, he offered his hand. "Yamato Ishida." The shook hands, and then Yamato turned back to his brother. "Anyway, I came here cuz I thought we could walk together back home—"

"You're staying with us?" Takeru asked.

"Yep."

"Is dad with you?"

"Nope," Yamato said, "but he'll be there during the match."

"Oh, so you're here to watch the basketball match?" Hikari asked.

"Yep, that's right," said Yamato. "Can't miss our little shining star here—"

"Shut up."

"Ooh, very friendly."

_"Shut up."_

"Okay, okay," Yamato said. "And — uh, Takeru — Oba-chan's coming."

Takeru looked at Yamato quickly as he heard that. "She is?"

"She is. And she's staying over until the holidays come for the — err," Yamato stopped and looked at Hikari, "for the you-know-what."

Takeru rolled his eyes, and looked concerned for a moment. "When's she coming?"

"On the day of your basketball match," replied the other. "Anyway, as I was saying — I thought we could walk together back home, but…"

"Oh no, you two can go on ahead," Hikari said quickly, but Yamato shook his head.

"Nah, _you _go on," he said. "I think I'll go visit Koushiro…anyway, nice meetin' yah, Hikari."

"Nice meeting you, too," she replied, smiling and bowing a little. Yamato Ishida turned around and began to walk a few steps away, only to stop and faced them again.

"By the way, Hikari?" he called out.

"Yes?"

With a mysterious smile that's supposed to have a sort of hidden meaning, he said, _"Good luck."_

Hikari frowned, and then looked at Takeru. The blonde seemed to understand what his brother was talking about, because he was once again blushing deeply. Before she could ask anything, he held her hand again and sort of dragged her away from the direction his brother went to, mumbling a quiet, "Come on" as they walked away together.

_Good luck? For what?_

But Hikari Yagami really needed it, if she was going to face Takeru Takaishi's grandmother (Oba-chan).

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, Yamato's finally here. Again, sorry for the late update. (Smacks own head).


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own, na na na…

**A/N: **Eleventh chapter. Sorry for the late update, something was wrong with the Internet connection.

**Bee: **LIAR!

**A/N: **Well, okay, okay! I was away for a holiday.

**Bee: **LIAR!

**A/N: **Okay, okay, okay! I was busy with my calligraphy lesson.

**Bee:** You don't _have_ calligraphy lesson, you LIAR!

**A/N: **Eleventh chapter. And it should be Odaiba Junior High, not Odaiba High - that's Taichi's school. My bad, I'll edit it later (yawns lazily).

* * *

11. The Basketball Match.

"Hikari-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Someone's waiting for you outside."

Hikari quickly looked away from the computer screen (she was choosing the pictures for the 'Toilet Trouble' column) to look at the time. She'd almost forgotten — she and Takeru promised to go to the library today! Quickly, she collected her notebook and file and stood up.

"Err, Arya-senpai, sorry but I must go," she said with a grin. The senior didn't seem to register her saying anything, for her eyes were locked on the computer screen and she merely gave her a low, "OK". And so she left.

XxXx

She glanced out the door as the younger girl left. She even caught a glimpse of him. He gave her his usual cold look that read 'I-am-not-going-to-be-with-your-sister'. He turned his attention to the cheerful Yagami instead, and then left with her to God-knows-where. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she returned to the computer screen and began to type at an unusual speed.

Fine. So he's showing off his new girlfriend, huh? Fine. _Fine._ She knew Yamato was in town, and Takeru must've blabbered to him about Miss Pretty Yagami. But she knew that both Yamato and Takeru weren't brave enough to face Mrs. Takaishi.

And no, she's _NOT _going to talk to that Yagami jerk face-to-face, or threaten her to leave Takeru alone. Nope. She's not going to do that. In fact, she wasn't going to talk to Takeru, or Yamato or Miss Natsuko Takaishi about it. Instead, she would talk to the one person who could shrug Yagami off Takeru's life for her. With only one, single magical phone call, Takeru and Hikari are doomed.

She knew, somehow, she and 'this powerful person' shared something in common — the way their minds work. With the basketball match coming, it's just too perfect…

—X—

Hikari glanced sideways to Takeru, and observed him silently. He had been oddly quiet to her lately. He didn't talk about Hiroki-kun or about his brother anymore — as if something was bothering him so badly. They were done picking up books for the History project (it was 96 percent done, and these books were going to be the last books they were going to read about Japan's history) and were heading back to their class.

"Are you worried about something?" she asked, deciding to be honest and direct.

"Huh? Who, me?" he responded. She nodded. "Well…"

"Is it the basketball match?" she tried to guess. She was about to ask 'Is it the wallet girl?', but then she thought it wasn't appropriate to do so. Until now, she didn't know who the wallet girl was, or _why _her picture was in Takeru's wallet. She didn't remember the picture, too, because everything happened too fast that day at the super market.

"That, among other things…" There was a brief pause, and then he suddenly stopped, holding her hands. "Hikari," he began carefully, "there's something I wanna tell you. Umm, walk with me after school?"

She smiled and nodded. "Okay, sure thing," she said. She didn't want to rush him. She wanted him to know that he could have all the time in the world, and she would wait until he was ready to tell her whatever problem he had in mind. Takeru was very bad with words, and she knew how it troubled him so much to try to _talk._ So, she was actually looking forward to their walk after school.

Takeru went on ahead when school was over, because Hikari's girlfriends were holding her back — they were talking about Miharu's new haircut, and how Yamashita Naoki was totally checking her out (everyone in the class knew that both Naoki and Miharu had deep crushes on each other).

"I dunno what you're talking about," Miharu snapped, her face red.

"Owh, whatever!" said Kumiko, before turning to Hikari. "And you, Hikari-chan…" There was a mischievous grin on her face. "I see you and Takeru are going steady."

Hikari felt herself blush, too. Ever since Takeru had confessed to her, she did not make any attempt to tell anyone about it. "W-well, yeah. Ha, ha."

"Aww, look, she's shy," teased Michiyo. "I can't believe someone finally got _the _Takaishi! I mean, wow, Hikari-chan!" She gave her a slap on the back.

"I still can't believe you said nothing about it to us," said Kumiko, nudging at her playfully. "So, you fell in love with him during the project discussion, eh? Eh?"

"W-well, erm — kinda, heh," she admitted shyly. "Is it _that _obvious?"

"That you're in love? Heck, no, not really!" said Kumiko.

"Never mind that! Did he confess to you?" Miharu asked eagerly. "Or did you confess to him? Have you two gone out on a date? Kissed yet? Huh? Huh?"

Hikari rolled her eyes, though she was grinning. "Stop it!"

"Oh, c'mon!"

"Okay, okay, fine — he confessed, we kissed, blah, blah, blah," she said briskly, avoiding their eyes but grinning widely. Her girlfriends clapped and cheered.

"Was he a good kisser?" Michiyo asked. Hikari hit her lightly by the shoulder and she leaned away to avoid it.

"Stop it," she said again. "I gotta go see him now—"

"Ooh, walking back home with her man now, is she?" Kumiko said teasingly.

"Shut it!" she said, still grinning. "See ya tomorrow, guys."

They all said goodbye, and still smiling a little, Hikari quickly went outside and immediately spotted the tall handsome figure waiting for her near the front gates. She blushed alone as she saw Takeru — he was just so cute right now, with his cold looks gone, and his quiet and almost shy looks made him even cuter.

"Hey," she greeted breathlessly (she had ran all the way there from her class). Takeru smiled a little.

"Hey. Someone's late."

"Sorry," she apologised, beaming, and then the two began to walk together slowly. She then spotted the ice cream shop and said, "Want some ice cream? C'mon, the treat's on me!" Without waiting for his reply, she went off and bought two ice creams. "Here ya go," she said in a happy voice as she handed one to him. She began to lick at her ice cream, smiling, as they walked together, but Takeru seemed to be staring at her. "What?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

Takeru smiled. "Nothing." And then he scratched his neck.

"Aww, c'mon, _what?"_ she pressed on. She didn't know if her theory was correct or not, but through her observation she found out that whenever Takeru scratched his neck, he was lying about something.

"It's just…" Out of the blue, his face went pink. "Nothing. It's nothing."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever," she said. Seconds after that, Takeru was holding her hand. When she looked at him, she found that his blue eyes looked sort of unhappy.

"…Hikari-chan?"

"Hmm?"

"…Aishiteru…"

She felt hot whenever he said that — but of course, she was happy whenever he said that. Smiling a little, she said playfully, "I love you too — but I have to know, who's that girl in your wallet? Hmm? _Hmm?"_

Takeru frowned a little, as if trying to remember something, and then said, "Oh, _that._ Wait a sec…" He pulled out his wallet and then handed it to her. She looked at it, and then back at him, eyebrows raised. "Go ahead and see for yourself."

Curiosity invading her chest, she nearly snatched the wallet away from him. Hikari opened it and then quickly saw it — a picture of a girl. Only that she knew perfectly well who it was.

"You changed it!" she said, handing the wallet back to him, and Takeru was laughing. Inside his wallet was her picture now. "You changed the picture, didn't you?"

"Okay, sorry," he apologised, pocketing his wallet back. "I mean…it's not important who was in my wallet before. It's your picture now, and that's what matters."

Hikari felt his hand wrapped tighter around hers, as if worried she would run away. "Well…I _still _want to know who she was! She's in your wallet, she must be precious!" she said darkly in a childish way. They had reached the usual spot — a tree near Takeru's apartment — where Takeru would watch her disappear as she took a right junction to go home, before going inside his own apartment. Takeru stopped, and they stood face to face. Silently, he took out something from his pocket. It was a photograph. Hikari was busy eyeing the photograph in his hand and did not register him holding her by the shoulder. The next thing she knew, he was kissing her lips softly.

A soft wind blew, and Hikari felt so relaxed. She always felt comfortable and warm whenever she was with him, even though he didn't talk too much. But that was the best part of it: he was quiet, and she was talkative, and somehow, they were OK together. Takeru's simple words — like "I love you" — were short, but through those words, Hikari could sense his honesty. He really meant what he said, and his short words were enough to tell her that.

When they pulled away, Takeru hugged her tightly — and again, Hikari felt as if through the hug, Takeru was saying, "Please don't go". She hugged him back. He seemed so tensed and sad these days…

"Takeru?" she called gently after a pause. "Is there something bothering you?"

He didn't reply. She sighed, very, very quietly.

"Please talk to me," she said quietly. "You know you can talk to me…right?"

She felt him nod silently like a scared child. There was another brief pause, and then he spoke.

"Hikari-chan…I'm sorry."

"For what?" she asked gently. She half expected him to say that he no longer wanted to be with her, and that he was dumping her right there — or he never really did liked her at all, and that everything was a joke…a bad joke…

"I'm sorry — I just — I'm sorry…"

Okay, now, something is _definitely _wrong. "Takeru — look at me," she said, holding him by the shoulders and observing his blue orbs. "What is it? What's bothering you?"

"…I talked to her. I really did," he said quietly. "And I love you…"

She closed her eyes. "I know. I love you too." With that, she hugged him again. Something was really, really, really troubling him, and she didn't want to sound impatient about it.

"You…won't leave me…right?" he asked slowly.

"No. Why would I?"

There was a pause, where the soft wind blew again.

"Because I'm…" he trailed off. "…I'm getting engaged."

—X—

"Well, hello, darling dear! How're things? And your sister? How is she, that lovely girl?"

"Very fine, Mrs. Takaishi."

"Oh, how many time do I have to tell you? Call me Oba-chan!"

She gave a laugh. "Umm — oh, very well — Oba-chan."

"Now that's better! How are you doing? Healthy, I hope?"

"Yes, I'm OK. So are mum and dad. What about you?"

"Oh, I almost catch a flu that night when Natsuko talked about that nonsense!"

Let's play pretend. "What nonsense, Oba-chan?"

"She said Takeru had some other thoughts in her mind. Oh, pooh!" said the old lady over the phone.

"Well — did Miss Takaishi really say that? Takeru had some _other _thoughts?" she pressed on carefully.

"Yes. Just forget about it, she's always like that when it comes to the engagement!" The old woman sound irritated. "She just said that because she didn't want me to decide things for her son! She's not so good of a mother, anyway…"

"…Well…Oba-chan, it's — kind of true…"

"Hmm? What's that, my dear?"

"About…Takeru, having other thoughts about the—"

"About the engagement?" the old lady cut across her. "Takeru? _My _Takeru? Going against me?"

Now, act lovely. "No — no, no, he's not against you, it's — oh, silly me, Oba-chan…it's just…it's just me…" Change the topic now. "Well, you _are _coming to see the basketball match, right?"

"Yes — dear, tell me about this whole…Takeru having another thought thing," said Mrs. Takaishi.

She smirked. Just as planned.

She sighed a fake sigh. "…There's this girl—"

"I knew it! I _knew _it! Useless girls love to flirt around, don't they? Why didn't you stop them from getting near your about-to-be brother in-law? Tell them to go away! Honestly, Natsuko needs to control her son a little…she knows about the engagement and yet she lets her son flirt around! Very well, you show me this girl when I get there for the basketball match thing, you show me which one it is who dares interfere with me!"

Report to Granny Mission — success.

—X—

She let go of him quickly. "You're getting _what?"_

He closed his eyes, as if wishing he hadn't said anything.

"No, Takeru — look at me," she said gently. "Is it true? You're not joking?"

Slowly, he shook his head.

"But then why didn't you—?"

He placed a finger on her lips, the classic "don't speak" symbol, and even though she had tons of questions to ask, she did fell silent. He then caressed her reddening cheek and stared into her eyes.

"…I'm really sorry," he said quietly, sounding really, _really _sorry. "I wanted to tell you, but I…I didn't want you to…"

"No one's leaving anyone," she said firmly, holding his hand — the one caressing her cheek. "You know you can tell me anything," she said, feeling a little — well, a LOT — hurt. How could he not tell her this earlier? Getting engaged! _Engaged!_ And soon married to that person, no doubt! Avoiding his eyes, she said quietly, "Why didn't you talk to me about it? Don't you trust me?"

"No, that's not it," he said quickly.

"It's her. Isn't it? The girl in the wallet?" she asked quietly.

"Well…yeah."

"Then why didn't you TELL ME EARLIER?" she screamed, losing her temper. She was so angry. Why didn't he talk to her about it before she got deeply, madly, _stupidly _in love with him? And now he's telling her, "Oh, sorry, Hikari-chan, but I'm getting engaged!" What was she to him some kind of a puppet doll he could speak to? Before long, a horrible feeling came: she was feeling sad. Very sad. Did that mean they were KO now? Was this the end? After confessing to each other, they were going to break up? With no happy memories of being together at all?

"Hikari — please, don't…"

"You! You — you could've told me earlier! Ages ago! But why _didn't _you?" She felt herself tremble as she spoke these words. Tremble not with sadness, but with anger. She then felt that she could no longer speak — because if she did, she would either be screaming at the top of her lungs, or crying herself out — so she placed a hand on her chest, as if asking herself to calm down. There was a long, unnatural pause, where both of them didn't say anything at all.

She took a deep breath and exhaled quickly. "I'm going home," she said, and realised that she was still trembling when she talked. She marched away — one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight steps — nine steps and then tripped pathetically over a rock and fell onto the hard ground, accidentally letting go of the books in her hands.

And of course, a stupid rock managed to get her a cut across her arm ("Why didn't I wear long sleeve? _Why?")_ and when she tried to stand up — she fell back down.

Yeah. Twisted her ankle.

"I don't think you should move," came Takeru's voice. He had walked towards her, but had stopped before he could reach her. "You okay?"

"W-well…well I —"

He closed the distance between then and crouched next to her. After a brief pause, she heard him sighed and then he sat on the ground next to her, looking very much like a little boy who was tired from all the walking.

"I'm sorry…I really am."

She didn't want to reply. Instead, she looked in her bag for a band aid for the cut.

"It's…_supposed _to be a family tradition…thingy," he continued quietly. And then something made him snort. "Come to think of it again, no one's been happy with the so-call tradition."

She found the band aid, and quickly wiped the blood away with a tissue before placing it there. Though, she wasn't so sure about going home right now. His story seemed to be going somewhere.

By now, he was talking more to himself, but loud enough for her to hear. "Mum went against Oba-chan and married dad instead…aunt Yukiko got a divorce…heh…" He then bowed his head, hiding his face from her, and said nothing more. She didn't know why she was still there — shouldn't she be at home, locked in her room and crying her heart out about all this?

But then again, how would she feel if she were in his shoes? It would certainly be a struggle to tell the person you love that you are getting engaged to someone else…and it seemed even harder for Takeru, for he was not a person who talked much. Hikari suddenly felt a pang of guilt — maybe he was planning to tell her about it earlier, but maybe it was hard. And maybe he was already expecting all this: her screaming at him, blaming him for not telling her about it sooner…

She suddenly didn't know how to start a conversation. In the end, it was he who spoke first.

"How's your foot?" he asked hesitantly. She gave him a half shrug before standing up.

"Who is she then?" she asked quietly. After a pause, Takeru opened his mouth, but then she said, "I've to go home," and began to walk slowly down the road.

—X—

It was very cruel, in Hikari's opinion, how the two of them (Takeru and her) had very little time to spend together since they confessed to each other. The next day, the two of them were very quiet and did not talk to each other pretty much (other than the occasional, "Hello" and "Yes, I think that's OK" (this was for their history project)). When left alone, they did not turn to each other even though they were sitting next to each other.

During History class, they watched as group two presented their project and explained about things to the whole class. They sat in their groups: Daisuke was talking to Hikari about how group two had done lousily, while Kumiko was copying notes down. Hikari managed to steal glances to their team leader — he was staring out the window...and of course, several minutes after, Mr. Seimaru called his name and asked Takeru to see him in his office after the class.

Things did not brighten up after history class, for Takeru skipped two classes and only came back for Maths class. After that, he was gone again.

Hikari was forced to not think of Takeru, for she was busy at the Newspaper Club room. Everyone was finishing their previous articles and stuff, because they wanted to 'give their all' during the basketball match. Arya-senpai gave Hikari a half-an-hour-speech about taking good pictures and readying her camera all the time. However, Hikari had the feeling that Arya-senpai wouldn't meet her eyes at all during their meeting, and she didn't sound as cheerful as she usually was.

"Come on, we need to go and interview the coach," said Souichiro one day, and Hikari said she didn't want to go near the basketball court at all (for they were having a practice and Takeru would surely be there). Souichiro frowned at her and said, "Come _on!"_ and dragged her all the way to the court.

Sure enough, the team was there and were practising (Hikari could see Takeru easily — his blonde hair managed to catch everyone's eyes while he played), and the coach was standing as he watched and shouted instructions.

"Hello, coach," said Souichiro once they reached him.

"FASTER, MATSUDA, FASTER! Yes, what is it?" said the coach rather rudely. "Oh, Souichiro, yes, yes. Arya did mention about you two coming for an interview."

"Yes," said Souichiro and then he began to interview the coach by asking him questions and his comments about his team's performance. Hikari stepped back a little, and snapped several pictures silently, before turning her attention to the boys playing. She watched as a boy passed the ball to Takeru, and then Takeru pushed the person next to him violently as he tried to steal the ball.

"Okay, THAT'S IT, TAKAISHI!" bellowed the coach as commotion broke. The boy Takeru had pushed was complaining loudly as he lie flat on his back. The coach marched towards the boys and began to shout at Takeru (who still had the ball and was playing with it as he listened to the coach). "YOU ARE THE CAPTAIN, I CANNOT LET YOU BEHAVE LIKE THIS! STOP WITH YOUR BABYISH TANTRUMS AND FOCUS ON THE MATCH, WILL YOU? I DON'T KNOW AND I DON'T CARE IF YOUR UNCLE JUST PASSED AWAY OR SOMETHING—"

"Let's go, I think I've got everything," said Souichiro, checking his notebook. "Yes, let's go," he said again after making sure his notes were OK. He led the way out of the indoor court, and Hikari trailed behind him. She paused as she reached the door, her eyes still watching Takeru.

"_It wouldn't hurt," _said a voice in her head. She raised her camera, zoomed at Takeru's face, and snapped a picture of him. It was a perfect one: his blue eyes, his face, his expression — everything…

Hikari turned and left.

—X—

A day before the match.

"Hey, Hikari-chan!" came Durian Head's voice as he skipped towards Hikari's desk. "Wanna go out wimme tomorrow?"

She looked startled, and looked at a certain blonde for a while. She then looked away, face red, and answered Durian Head. "Uhm — but the match, the basketball match—"

"Aww, we don't need to watch that," said Durian Head. "C'mon, let's skip it and hang out somewhere."

She gave him a small smile. "I'm in the Newspaper Club, Daisuke. I _have _to be there."

"And watch Goldie Locks embarrass himself in front of the crowd? Sheesh," said Durian Head. "All right then — after the match. I mean, snap some pictures, wait for the game to end and then we're off! What d'you say?"

"Err…"

"She's meeting me after the match," said Takeru quietly as he stood up from his seat, and walked for the door. Durian Head and Hikari both said,

"She is?"

"I am?"

He simply walked out of the class, slamming the door shut behind him _(A/N: Or does the door slide from side to side? Hmm…)_

—X—

The school was crowded with people that morning — parents, teachers, students, families, cheerleaders, and even seniors from Taichi's school were there. Around eight in the morning, several busses from Aki High arrived, and the headmaster came forth to welcome the visitors and led them to the indoor court. The atmosphere was cheerful, as they bought drinks and snacks and went into the indoor basketball court and sat and waited for the game to start. Hikari caught a glimpse of Takeru's mother, brother, and a woman whom she guessed to be Hiroki-kun's mother, for she was carrying the little boy.

The members of the Newspaper Club were gathered at one spot, and Arya-senpai was reminding the photographers to do their best and if they don't, she would kill them with her own hands.

And so the match began_. _The first to score was Aki High, and things began to get exciting. Hikari managed to snap several good pictures, while Souichiro recorded the match on his camcorder.

An Aki High player was with the ball — the boy known as Matsuda Nozomi stole the ball, dodged several players and threw it to another player — that player threw it towards the net — it missed and bounced off — several players jumped to grab it — a tall blonde person got it in the end — he jumped — he scored!

The crowd supporting Odaiba players cheered and applauded, and several teammates patted Takeru on the back for scoring. The blonde looked neither pleased nor irritated. Hikari raised her camera, and snapped a picture of the basketball captain.

Aki High fought back, they really did, but Odaiba High seemed to be better. They slowly rose to the challenge and scored one, two — three more goals. In the end, they won _(A/N: Hooray!)._

There was a deafening sound as the mad crowd cheered and clapped and all. The cheerleaders started to do their thing, and Hikari began to snap pictures at high speed. Arya-senpai told them yesterday that if their school won, they'd interview the families and she, Hikari, needed to snap some pictures while Arya-senpai did the interviews. And so, Arya-senpai managed to find her and they both went to the seats where the families were sitting. Amidst the cheers and applause, Arya-senpai only managed to ask them how they felt at the moment and their wishes for their sons in the future (while Hikari took some pictures of them).

At last, they reached the Takaishi family.

"Good morning, Miss Takaishi!" Arya-senpai said through the loud cheers. "How are you?"

"Very fine, thank you, Arya!" said the other in reply, a huge smile visible on her face.

_"Wait. How did Miss Takaishi know Arya-senpai's name?"_

"And — and Aunt Yukiko? Hiroki-kun?" Arya asked, sitting down on an empty seat next to Miss Takaishi. Hikari snapped a picture of the two.

_"Okay, so she knew everyone here!"_

"We're fine, thanks," said Takeru's aunt, as Hiroki-kun said, "Onechan!" as he pointed, grinning, at Hikari — but no one heard him over the cheers.

"And — I see Mr. Ishida is here too!" said Arya, turning her attention to a man with square jaw and brown hair, who sat next to Yamato Ishida. Hikari snapped a picture of him, too.

_"So this is Takeru's father…"_

"And of course, Mrs. Takaishi," said Arya-senpai, shaking a hand of an old lady who didn't look like a Japanese at all. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, and looked really stylish for her age. "So, first, how d'you guys feel?" she asked in her cheerful voice.

"Very, very proud!" answered Natsuko, and the others nodded in agreement.

"At last, I didn't come here to watch my grandson lose," said Mrs. Takaishi.

"Yep, it's all worth my time. I know Takeru won't lose," said Mr. Ishida and Mrs. Takaishilooked offended, as if Mr. Ishida had spoken at the wrong time — or as if she didn't like him very much at all.

"Niichan!" said little Hiroki-kun, clapping his hands. Hikari grinned and took a picture of the little boy. She then took pictures of Takeru's family members one by one — Yamato Ishida, Mr. Ishida, Yukiko Takaishi, Natsuko Takaishi and then Mrs. Takaishi…

…Who was eyeing her with an odd look ever since she got there.

"Well, Takeru will be here any moment, and then we can take a family picture!" said Arya-senpai. She then looked at Hikari, too, before leaning towards Mrs. Takaishi. Hikari was sure she heard her senior said, "That's _her."_ Mrs. Takaishi's eyebrows raised upwards a little and she observed Hikari for a while.

"Umm. Hello," said Hikari uncertainly. To her surprise, the old lady suddenly stood, and walked towards her (who had to stand quite far away from them all to take pictures). Before she could said anything or do anything, the next thing she knew was that her right cheek was burning with a sharp pain. She had accidentally let go of her camera and it skidded across the floor and Hikari knew at once it was broken. Several voices were heard.

"_Mama!" _chorused both Natsuko and Yukiko Takaishi.

"What the—!" she heard Yamato Ishida said.

Mrs. Takaishi, Takeru's grandmother, had just slapped Hikari. It wasn't a weak slap, it was a very painful one — the old lady sure had energy even at her age… Hikari held her right cheek, and didn't quite feel her cheek at all. It was kind of numb. Hikari suddenly realised that _everyone else _was watching, too, and felt her face going red. What was this all about?

"So," said the old lady in her weird accent, _"so, _you're Hikari Yagami."

Hikari looked up and looked at her directly in the eyes.

"You _foolish _girl," said the old lady (while Natsuko said, _"Mama!"_ again, frowning in confusion as she watched her mother behaved so rudely towards a school girl), and raised her hand to obviously slap Hikari again. She closed her eyes as the hand swung forward towards her face; she was unable to react, but then—

"OBA-CHAN!"

The voice was loud and familiar, and she opened her eyes to find _someone _standing between her and Mrs. Takaishi.

"Oba-chan, _what the hell are you doing?"_

It was Takeru. He had grabbed his grandmother's hand just in time and still wouldn't let go, as the old lady struggled to free herself.

"Takeru, don't be rude to your grandmother!" said Natsuko, who was clearly very shocked to find how weird her family members acted on that day.

"She hurt my friend, mum, and how the hell am I supposed to be polite to her?" Takeru said in a loud voice, now standing protectively in front of Hikari (who was still holding her pained cheek).

"Takeru—!"

"Let the boy be, Natsuko," said the old lady, who finally managed to pull her hand away from her grandson. Yamato and Mr. Ishida were on their feet now. "So, _this _is your girlfriend, Takeru?"

Natsuko's frown deepened as she stared at her mother. "Mama! What is this?" she said.

"You didn't know? This is the girl who steal—"

"She stole _no one, _Oba-chan!" Takeru said in his thunderous voice. "She's my friend and—"

"And you love her and you're forgetting Catherine Leroy who is supposed to—"

And then Takeru began shouting at his grandmother in another language. Hikari guessed that it was French, remembering a French storybook she saw at Takeru's house. But then again, he said he didn't speak the language…

The lady shouted back, and then both Natsuko and Yukiko were speaking French, too. Pretty soon Yamato Ishida joined in, leaving Mr. Ishida watching with a frown on his face. He met Hikari's eyes, and through the man's expression, she knew he was apologising at her.

"IT'S YOU, ISN'T IT?" Takeru bellowed in Japanese at last, pointing at Arya. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT HIKARI? WHAT DID YOU TELL OBA-CHAN?"

Surprisingly, Arya-senpai merely sat there with a faint smile playing on her face. For the first time, Hikari saw an expression she had never seen Arya-senpai wear. Hikari felt horrible. The pain on her cheek didn't fade away just yet, and then before she knew it, tears were sliding off her face.

"HOW DARE YOU SHOUT AT ARYA-CHAN!" his grandmother bellowed. "YOU ARE TO GET ENGAGED WITH HER SIST—"

"SHUT — UP — OLD — _HAG!"_ Takeru shouted as loud as he could before dragging Hikari away with him out of the court. Everyone was watching, but Takeru didn't seem to care. He was very angry. He slammed the door open and continued to drag Hikari along with him, towards the school building.

It took her several long minutes to find her voice again. By that time, they were already inside the school building, which was empty because everyone was in the basketball court.

"…Takeru."

The blonde didn't reply. He kept on walking in a quick pace, holding her hand.

"Takeru, where are we going?" she said meekly

"Away," the other replied quickly, his voice shaking. They were in a deserted corridor and there were lockers on their right.

"Away _where?"_ she asked quietly, but he didn't reply. She wiped her tear-stained face with her free hand and tried again. "Takeru—"

"Shut _up, _Hikari, just — shut up!" Takeru shouted, stopping at last. He pushed her roughly against the lockers and before slamming his fists on either side of her head with a loud BANG!Hikari pressed herself against the locker, terrified. They were standing very close to one another and Takeru was simply taller than she was. She watched, eyes wide and wet, while Takeru stood there. She was trapped. "Just…shut up, please…" he said quietly, closing his blue eyes. His shoulders were shaking slightly as they stood there, and before long, tears escaped his own eyes. He cried there silently — maybe out of anger, but maybe out of sadness, she simply couldn't tell — and she felt less terrified. Time went on and they just stood there quietly, with Hikari still trapped between the locker and the blonde.

Slowly, she reached out both hands, and placed them on his shoulders. Takeru didn't react, and so she pulled him slowly into a hug. He hugged her back slowly, and they stood there — away from the cheering crowd — just the two of them.

* * *

**A/N: **Wow. ANGST! XD


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: **Do not own, hee hee hee… The song used in this chapter belongs to The Beatles, so here I go again: Do Not Own, hee hee hee…

**A/N: **Twelfth chapter.

* * *

12. Catherine Deserves Better.

She tightened her hug as Takeru stood there hugging her like his life depended on her. Hikari herself was still crying a little. She was embarrassed. She was hurt. She was sad. She was angry. With all these feelings mixed up, she simply couldn't hold it much longer. What did she do to deserve a slap from Mrs. Takaishi? They didn't even know each other — based on what did Mrs. Takaishi judged her? The things Arya-senpai (her stomach gave an unpleasant squirm as she remembered this name) told her? Or her appearance?

"_Everything's _my fault!" he said quietly, but she sensed anger in his slightly hoarse voice. She couldn't reply. She wanted to, but it was one of those moments when you speak, you fear you would cry. She looked away from him and stared at their feet instead. After a moment, Takeru wiped her tears away (he had stopped crying ages ago) in silence — but it only made her feel worse. This person, the one she loved, wasn't even going to be with her. She was pretty sure that his grandmother would drag him all the way into the engagement one way or another…and he would leave her…and she would be left with nothing but the memories of them being together…

"Hikari-chan?"

She looked up at his caring blue eyes.

"We'll go through this together, okay?" he said gently and quietly. She nodded silently before hugging him once more. At least at the moment, she was safe with him.

—X—

As if things weren't bad enough for her already, the next day she found herself hearing whispers and seeing people staring at her darkly as she walked pass. Taichi realised this and (being unable to get explanations on why Hikari came back from the match crying) was very angry, too.

"What're you staring at?" he snapped at a girl who looked younger than Hikari. "Hikari-chan, are you _sure _you don't want to tell me anything about—?"

"It's okay, Taichi," she said, smiling at him gently. "I'm fine. Just let them be…"

She managed to convince Taichi that she didn't need him to escort her all the way to class, and made her way towards her locker with all the stares and whispers still going on. She caught a few words like, "Stealer" and "Ashamed of herself", but she ignored them completely.

Hikari sighed and pushed several strands of brown hair behind her ears, but before she could do anything else, someone slammed her locker shut, making her jumped in surprise.

"Well, Yagami, I'm surprised you have the courage to show up today," said a girl. Hikari recognised her as a girl in another class. "From what I heard from Takeru's grandmother, you sound like a fiancé-stealer." She pulled a nasty expression. "I wouldn't get near _her, _people!" she said aloud, and everyone stopped to listen. "She doesn't mind stealing Takeru Takaishi from his fiancé, so it's possible that she might steal our boyfriends, too!"

Hikari heard several people laughed, while several people frowned and quickly went away (they were those who didn't want to get involved in anything).

When Hikari reopened her locker and tried to ignore the girl, she said, "What's the matter now, Yagami? Don't you want to defend yourself? Or are you admitting that you're guilty?"

"No offence or anything, but I honestly think you should shut up and study hard for your physics," Hikari said. She then closed her locker with a snap and faced the girl. "I heard you got 3 percent for the recent test. Tsk, tsk. Pity you. Maybe someone _should _steal your boyfriend so that you won't waste your time being his wife and instead concentrate more on being a student."

The girl was red in the face, and Hikari left (taking care to flip her hair, though it wasn't that long).

"Why — you — fiancé — stealer — daughter of a b—"

The girl didn't finish her sentence, because the next thing Hikari knew was that someone was attacking her from behind: the girl had pulled her bag until she stumbled backwards, and then she pushed the books in her hand so that they dropped onto the floor. Papers and notes scattered everywhere on the floor.

"What's _your _problem?" she screamed, looking at the mess, and then at the girl.

"YOU'RE ASKING ME WHAT'S MY PROBLEM?" the girl shouted.

"Well, gee, hello? _You _started it," Hikari said as she knelt down to pick up her books. "And besides, I did **NOT **steal anyone from anyone, you should get a better source! Ouch — _hey!"_

The girl had kicked her book out of the hands and stepped onto her English textbook.

"Now you're really getting it!" Hikari growled before launching forward to pull the girl's hair. The girl screamed and pulled _hers, _and then they were like two cats wrestling over a dead mouse. The students, some of them, anyway, started to cheer, while others rushed to find a teacher. They began to chant, "Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! _Fight!"_

"That's — my — hairclip — you — hag!" Hikari said as the girl pulled her hair like crazy.

"Who the hell — cares about your hair — clip?" the girl spat back, clearly in pain. Hikari tugged harder at her hair and she screamed. "GET OFF MY HAIR! GET OFF MY HAIR! GET OFF MEEEEE!"

"_Fight! Fight! Fight!"_

"You fiancé-stealer!"

"I DID NOT STEAL ANYONE!"

"_Fight! Fight! Fight!"_

From the odd position she was in (the other was pulling her hair harder than ever), Hikari saw a familiar tall figure emerging from the crowd.

"Takeru! Ack — thank God — _ouch! — _let go!"

"Let her go—!"

"Oh no, you don't!" said a new voice and, turning around, Hikari saw another boy. She recognised him as the girl's boyfriend (it was easy to tell because they'd been holding hands in public). When Takeru came closer to the two girls, and tried to break the fight, the boy suddenly pulled Takeru backwards. Hikari somehow knew what was coming next.

Takeru stood back up and punched the guy on the face, taking care to hit the jaw (the crowd gasped for a moment, before starting to chant "Fight!" once more). Well, he was NOT in his best mood at the moment, after all…

"Takeru, STOP!" she yelled as she stopped pulling the other's hair. She pushed the girl away (with difficulty, trust me), and pulled Takeru by the arm, away from the crowd (_"Fight! Fight! Fight!")_. But then, right one cue, a teacher came.

"A fight! In the middle of the morning — why — TAKAISHI!" bellowed the teacher. Turning around, Hikari saw the English teacher (who seemed to have something against Takeru since the spelling bee incident). "And Yagami," he hissed as his eyes landed on Hikari. "Well, I don't know what happened after the basketball match, but this only means one thing: DETENTION! BOTH OF YOU, AFTER SCHOOL! Now get into your classes, all of you!" he snapped at the crowd.

"But sir! _She _started it!"

"Silence!"

Takeru grabbed Hikari's hand and led the way to class silently.

"Hey, you OK?" he asked at last, when they were climbing the stairs.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, though her scalp felt like it was going off. "And you?"

"…Fine," he muttered. He then slowly looked at her. "Your cheek's still red," he said silently, and Hikari's free hand automatically jumped to her face.

"Erm, well, it's no big deal," she said, slapping her face softly. "See?" she said, grinning. Takeru's frowning face disappeared as he laughed a little.

The classes were nightmares. Some of their classmates glared and refused to talk or meet their eyes, but thank God Kumiko wasn't like that. Daisuke was kind to Hikari, but he threatened to kill Takeru (who glared back dangerously, but didn't attack probably because of the detention he already had). After the class, the two followed the English teacher who brought them to the discipline teacher. They sat down in silence; both hung their heads as the discipline teacher lectured them.

"Fighting is a serious crime at school," Said Mr. Tizzy, the head of discipline teachers. "Surely you know that by now, Takaishi? And Yagami, I know you're new here, but I'm positive that your old school has the same school rules."

"We didn't start it," Takeru said flatly.

"And you should know by now, that you're here for _a reason."_

"We didn't start it," Takeru repeated, looking up to glare at Mr. Tizzy. There was a pause, where the two stared at each other. And then the older man moved to take a file from his drawer. As he flipped through the papers, he spoke:

"Takaishi, you've been causing troubles no more than…twenty-six times this year, twenty-two last year and fifteen times two years back." He then read from the file: "Sleeping in class, sleeping in class, skipping chemistry and math, skipping English, sleeping in class, humiliating the teacher in class, fighting, fighting, fighting, skipping History for six weeks in a row…" Mr. Tizzy sighed. He examined the records before turning his attention to Hikari. "Whereas you, Miss Yagami, you have a clean record, seeing that you're new here. Perhaps being friends with Mr. Takaishi here made you…_aggressive?"_

"He's my friend and I'm perfectly OK with that," Hikari said, shocked to hear such comment about Takeru. Well, maybe it was because she knew Takeru better than Mr. Tizzy did. The teacher sighed again.

"I will have to call your mother — _again — _Mr. Takaishi. Before that, I expect you two to be good with rakes and burning dried leaves, because that's what you'll be doing for a fortnight after school. Burn the dried leaves in the school gardens for the gardener. You may go now."

The two stood up, both wearing sour expressions, and headed out of the discipline room towards the gardens.

"So," she said as Takeru handed her one rake, "guess we'll be able to play with fire for two weeks, huh?"

Takeru smiled little. "Yeah."

They than began to collect the leaves in one place. Soon after, Takeru began to call the English teacher names. Hikari joined in, soon (they got a lot, but Hikari thought 'Mr. Egg-Head-With-Wig' was the best). After that, she challenged Takeru to sing, since Yamato could sing, but Takeru refused. After persuading him some more, he agreed to hum her an English song. Slowly, he began to sing quietly:

"I get high when I see you go by…my oh my…

"When you sighed, my, my insides just fly…butterflies

"Why am I so shy when I'm beside you?

"It's only love, and that is all,

"Why should I feel the way I do?

"It's only love, and that is all,

"But it's so hard loving you…"

Hikari stood there by the pile of leaves, watching as Takeru swept the leaves, singing as he did so. She didn't even notice him getting nearer, but the only thing she registered was him hitting her on the head.

"Stop daydreaming, you lazy bum," he said jokingly. Hikari rubbed her head.

"Ow, that hurts," she said, sticking out her tongue. Later, Takeru lighted up some fire and burnt the leaves. They watched until everything turned into ashes, and then made their way towards the discipline room once more. On the way there, Takeru spotted his mother's black car, and he became silent all the way towards the discipline room. Sure enough, when they got there, Mr. Tizzy was talking to Miss Takaishi, who looked both worried and pissed off.

"Ah, there they are — come in, both of you," said Mr. Tizzy. They did what he asked them to. Takeru sat next to his mother, while Hikari sat next to him. "Well, Mr. Takaishi, Miss Yagami, remember to do the same tomorrow. I expect you two to behave for two weeks, and after the two weeks as well." He examined the two carefully. "Miss Yagami, you're free to go."

Hikari stood up hesitantly, looking at Takeru. Miss Takaishi was looking at her with an odd expression on.

"Err — right," she said, and went out. She walked very slowly out of the school buildings, and then out of the gates. The sun was almost down. She sighed silently alone…

Now the whole school thought she's some fiancé-stealer. But she was not! He wasn't engaged yet, so she was NOT a fiancé-stealer, after all! She loved Takeru for who he was, and besides…she didn't know that he was about to get a fiancé before…

—X—

The next day, during lunch, Hikari decided to go to the Newspaper Club room. She was hoping to find Souichiro to get her camera back, but when she got there, there was no one except Arya-senpai. Hikari quickly moved to the door to exit, but the senior called her name and managed to stop her.

"What brings you here?" she asked without looking at her. Hikari, who already had one hand on the doorknob, stopped in her tracks.

"…I was wondering if Souichiro's here," she said quietly, not facing Arya-senpai.

"He's absent today," came the reply. "What is so important that you must meet him?"

She hesitated for a while before answering, "I was wondering if he had my camera."

To her surprise, Arya-senpai laughed. "No one bothered to pick it up for you — and, oh, it's broken, girl."

Hikari took a deep breath, and then turned the doorknob.

"Hold it!" Arya-senpai said. She stopped. "Close the door."

Hikari turned, and met her eyes. She neither looked cold nor angry. "Why?"

"Because I have something to say to you," said Arya-senpai, taking a step forward before crossing her arms. Hikari raised her eyebrows. "Leave Takeru alone."

"Look," she sighed, "I didn't know that he's about to—"

"This engagement was planned since infancy. The Takaishi and the Leroy family owe each other something—"

"Now that's not true," Hikari said. "Takeru's told me everything."

"He did now, did he?" Arya-senpai said. She looked troubled for a while, but then she said, "But he didn't tell you about this engagement earlier—"

"It's doesn't matter — he's told me, and now I know. Look, Arya-senpai—"

"Takeru Takaishi and Catherine Leroy are to be engaged and soon married. This was planned since a long time ago — d'you seriously think a plain girl like you could steal Takeru away?"

"Arya-senpai, I didn't _know! _I didn't steal anyone and—"

"My sister has thalassaemia major and she's been fancying Takeru since she was eight. If you take away Takeru from her, d'you know what damage you'll cause to her life AND health? She's been looking forward to this engagement — _she needs Takeru."_

"Thalassa — what?"

"Leave. Him. **Alone. **Now leave!"

Hikari gladly turned away and exited the room. She pondered and pondered what on earth was thalassaemia major, but that night, she got her answer. She surfed the net to get information about it, and found it quickly.

_"Thalassaemia is an inherited disorder in which there is an abnormality in one or more of the globin genes. To understand more about Thalassaemia you need to know a little about blood and about anaemia…"_

Hikari scrolled down, never taking her eyes off the screen.

_"The red in a person's blood contains a substance called Haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is very important because it carries oxygen from the lungs to where ever it is needed in the body…"_

"Come on, come on…" Hikari said impatiently as she scrolled down again.

_"Thalassaemia major is sometimes known as Cooleys Anaemia, Homozygous, Bete Thalassaemia or Mediterranean Anaemia. It is a serious inherited childhood anaemia. Children with Thalassaemia major cannot make enough haemoglobin. Because haemoglobin carries oxygen, people with thalassaemia major do not get enough oxygen, and their bone marrow cannot produce enough red blood cells…"_

Hikari shifted in her seat, and the scrolled down.

_"Children with Thalassaemia major are normal at birth but become anaemic between the ages of three months and eighteen months. They become pale, do not sleep well, do not want to eat, and may vomit their feeds. If children with Thalassaemia major are not treated, they have miserable lives. They usually die between one and eight years old…"_

Hikari paused. Then, Catherine Leroy survived until now, meaning she had been treated well…right?

However, when Hikari got into bed, she could not help feeling that Catherine deserved Takeru more than she did… Catherine Leroy deserved better…

* * *

**A/N: **Whoa…medic class! XD


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own, hua hua hua…

**A/N: **Thirteenth chapter. Hey, I just got a new haircut. Wheee!

* * *

13. Letting Go...It's Not That Hard. It's Just Painful.

"…Are you…OK?" Takeru asked slowly. They were watering the flowers outside their class, and Hikari had been very silent. She had been thinking about Catherine and about her health condition, and wondered if Takeru knew about it. He must know about it, she thought. After all, they _were _getting engaged…

"Earth to Hikari." This was followed by a gentle thud on her head as Takeru hit her. She turned to meet his blue eyes. "You OK?"

But was she sure about this? Was she willing to lose this caring friend? Was she ready to lose his wonderful blue eyes, his company, and his weird way of sharing his warmth with her…?

Takeru suddenly placed a hand on her forehead, frowning slightly.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said silently. There was a pause where he observed her. She heard him sighed as he watered the flowers.

"It's the engagement, isn't it?" he asked quietly, not looking at her. She looked at him quickly. Was it that obvious? "C'mon. You can talk to me," he added, in a quieter voice. "…Everyone's been silent to me—"

"Now, d-don't you get any ideas!" she said quickly. "I'm not deserting you or anything…! We're going through this together, right? We promised, right?"

He seemed relieved to hear that. His mouth sort of twitched into a kind of smile. "Yeah, we've promised."

Once inside the class, Takeru requested that Group Four to once more gather at his house to discuss about the presentation_. _

"I say no," Daisuke said at once, pounding the table. "I mean, what if that crazy grandmother of yours slapped Hikari-chan again?"

"Daisuke, watch your mouth," Hikari said quietly as Takeru glared at him.

"Well, it's true!" said Daisuke, getting a bit furious (anyone would when their dream girl suddenly defended their archenemy). "Who knows what'll happen?"

"My grandmother doesn't live with me," Takeru said shortly, shifting the papers in his hands to look for something.

"Uh-huh, whatever. And what if she suddenly comes?" Daisuke asked stubbornly, folding his arms.

"Lock the door and ignore her," Takeru said, now underlining several sentences in the text.

"If she breaks through the door?"

"She doesn't have super strength, and she's turning 76 this year anyway."

"What if she calls for a locksmith? What would you—?"

Takeru was rising from his chair, his death glare set upon Daisuke who sat opposite him. Daisuke quickly accepted that as a challenge and stood up too.

"What? Gonna fight me now?" Daisuke said, raising his fist. Kumiko groaned and buried her face in her hands.

"I give up!" she said. She'd been trying to unite the team so that they won't fight. But it appeared nothing would help her achieve that goal.

"My grandmother doesn't live with me. If she comes, we WILL ignore her. She won't break through the door and I'll cut the phone line if I have to. That way she won't call the locksmith. Now, either you shut the hell up, or die."

Takeru was, of course, taller that Daisuke, and Hikari had never seen him so angry before. He had the 'go-on-and-cross-me-if-you-can' look — a very scary sight — and Hikari thought Daisuke knew what was better for his health, for he sat back down (though still glaring) and did not talk again to Takeru.

"So, what time would our meeting start?" Kumiko asked.

"After school, I guess," said Takeru shortly.

"I have soccer practice."

"Good, then you don't have to go. We don't want you there," Takeru said.

"Fine, whatever!"

"But!" Takeru said as Daisuke stood up to leave the group, "you'll have to do most of the presentation as a return."

"What!"

"Or d'you wanna do all the presentation yourself?"

Daisuke stood there, growling like a dog ready to attack, but then stormed away, mumbling curses under his breath.

"You did that just for fun, didn't you?" Kumiko said.

"Yeah. And to annoy him," Takeru said before using a business-like tone of voice as they continued to discuss about their history presentation, which would take place in several days more.

—X—

"_108. Here we are again,"_ thought Hikari and she pressed the doorbell. Kumiko was with her.

"Coming!" came a voice, and Hikari felt a weird sensation in her stomach. It wasn't Takeru's voice, but his mother's. The door swung opened before Hikari could think of anything to do. "Oh, hello there. You two must be Takeru's classmates — he's informed me of you guys, c'mon in."

"_Good, she didn't seem to recognise me…"_ Hikari thought gratefully as she and Kumiko removed their shoes.

"Takeru, dear? Your friends are here!" Miss Takaishi called and Takeru's bedroom door swung open. Takeru stuck his head out.

"C'min, you guys," he said in his quiet attitude. Hikari quickly entered the room, just in case Miss Takaishi suddenly remembered her face or anything. Kumiko followed her.

"Very neat," Kumiko commented sarcastically as she looked at the study table. There wasn't even a centimetre of space on his study table, for it was covered with books, mugs, drinking glasses and Coke cans. But other than the study table, the room was quite all right _(A/N: To be honest, my study table's like that.)._

"There are just a few more things to be done, actually," he said, ignoring what Kumiko had said and walking towards a shelf to pull out a file. He opened them on the carpeted floor and the two girls joined in. "Here, take a look."

He handed several papers to Hikari and Kumiko.

"But…everything's done," Hikari said, scanning the papers. She then looked at the team leader. "Everything's done. It's complete."

"I was hoping you guys could do the spell check, you know, for the written report," Takeru said, sitting on his bed.

"Mr. Seimaru won't bother checking the spelling, and besides " Kumiko said, frowning, "you're waaaay better than us in all these languages and stuff…"

Takeru gave a half shrug and said nothing. After a while, he spoke. "You guys into Orange Range?" He walked towards a rack full of CDs.

"NO!" Kumiko said almost at once. "Well, their song, _Hana, _was kinda OK, but the others! My older brother listens to them and it was ear splitting! He listens to them at a high volume and said 'that's the proper way to enjoy music'! Urgh…"

"Your brother's right about listening to them loudly," Takeru said, grinning a little. "OK then, what about…TM Revolution?"

"Please don't."

"Hmm, L'arc En Ciel?"

"No."

"You serious? Even Hiroki-kun listens to them…"

"Speaking of Hiroki-kun, where is he now?" Hikari asked.

"He's gone back home. Jeez…well then, what DO you girl listen to?"

Kumiko looked at him with an odd expression on. Hikari knew why: Takeru hadn't shown any expressions to anyone except her, and his family members. It was a bit odd to see him trying to make a conversation.

"Well, Nakashima Mika is OK," Hikari said.

"Oh God. She's boring."

"Say that again to my face!" Hikari said. "She's a great singer! And, oh, Utada Hikaru. And…"

"There's this song by Yui, it's called 'Goodbye Days'. You should listen to it one day," Kumiko said. They argued some more about music and Hikari slowly realised that Takeru didn't want them there to discuss about the History project, but instead he wanted them there just to accompany him…

"Ne, Takeru," she said, "Um, when can we go home?" She wanted to be sure if her theory was correct. Takeru suddenly fell quiet.

"Err. Well. Um." He looked at his watch. They'd been there for almost an hour, and had done not much work. "I guess…you can go back now. We're sorta done, right?"

"OK, see ya tomorrow guys," Kumiko said. "And someone has to remind Daisuke not to leave his file behind tomorrow. I've tried but he never listens…bye."

Kumiko left. Hikari heard her talking to Miss Takaishi for a while, and then heard her leave. She turned to face Takeru.

"So," she said, folding her arms in a supposed-to-be strict manner, "what's the real reason you called us?"

"Hehe, so you noticed?" he said. When she didn't reply, he looked away. "Well…oh, all right…I wanted you guys here because…" He trailed off. "Because I don't wanna be alone with my mum."

Hikari sat next to him. "Are you guys doing all right?"

"Heck, no. There's this stupid silence each time we sit together for breakfast, dinner, supper, or watching TV or…anything and everything…"

Hikari suddenly felt guilty. Was she the cause of all this? Was Miss Takaishi like Mrs. Takaishi? Did she disagree with Takeru's decision, too?

"Takeru," she said, "is your mother OK with…with us?"

Takeru looked at her with his blue eyes for a minute. She had a feeling that he was a little furious with the question. "What d'you mean?"

She sighed. "Look…I don't want to ruin your relationship with your mother—"

"It's not your fault, I told you before—"

"—I don't — I'm not _sure _it's not my fault! Takeru, your mother cares for you and I don't want—"

And then they started to speak at the same time.

"—_I _care for you and that's what matters most—"

"—People going on calling me a family wrecker next or whatever—"

"—We'll get out of this soon—"

"—And your grandmother! What would she think? Obviously she doesn't agree—"

"—Stop, stop! Stop for a sec—"

"—And Catherine! When exactly are you going to tell me about her disease?"

"—I — _what?"_

"Catherine!" Hikari repeated. "You must know about her thalassaemia, right? Her family and your grandmother must've planned this whole engagement thing for a reason, right?"

"Wrong, my grandmother only wants her grandchildren to suffer a horrible life just like she did—"

"But how would you know that? Maybe she's just — trying to _help _Catherine or something. Thalassaemia _is _serious and I've read somewhere that blood transfusion IS expensive and you'll have to go through it like — what — _years?"_

"So what are you trying to say? We should break up?" Takeru said loudly and furiously.

"Well yeah! Maybe that's what I'm saying!" Hikari said, firing up as well. She _was _going through menstruation at the moment. "And — you, you — you _knew, _didn't you? About Catherine having thalassaemia—"

"Yeah, I do! So what, what does it matter—?"

"It MATTERS because if you'd tell me about it EARLIER, I wouldn't feel so guilty like I am NOW!"

His blue orbs stared at her chocolate ones. Hikari was so angry at the moment, but she realised that Takeru looked hurt — angry and hurt.

"You know what — I just remembered…I… I have to cook dinner for tonight," she said, standing up and grabbing her things. "See you tomorrow." Without a second glance at Takeru, she opened the door and went out.

As she finished putting her shoes on, she stood and sort of stormed towards the elevator, and she accidentally collided with a person.

"…Sorry," she mumbled and was about to storm away again, when the person spoke.

"It's nothing — hey, please wait! Um, d'you know where the Takaishis might live?"

It was a girl. She didn't look OK. She looked as if one soft wind could send her tumbling down. She had golden hair that curled nicely around her shoulders.

Hikari, who was very pissed now, didn't like hearing the name 'Takaishi', but she was willing to help, anyway. "108, over there," she said, pointing. The girl smiled.

"Thanks. I'm not from around, see. You know the Takaishis? D'you live here?"

"No…no I don't. Takeru's my…" She stopped, and sighed silently. "I know Takeru Takaishi, he's my…best friend."

"Really? You know him? Oh, that's _great!" _the girl squealed. "Have you heard about our upcoming engagement? It's during the school holidays — are you coming? Please, do come. I don't have many friends — if you're willing to be my friend, you'll be my second friend I ever had. Takeru's like, the first person ever who's willing to be a friend. And I'm here to see him! We're you at his house just now?"

So this is Catherine Leroy. She's just like Arya. But she seems innocent, compared to her sister…

"Yeah, I — I was… Listen, Takeru's told me about your health condition," Hikari said, her anger cooling down now and her curiosity mounting up. Catherine's face fell, and that told Hikari that she was correct. "I'm sorry. Did your family, err, want this engagement to — err — treat your disease?"

"…Yes, that's true," Catherine said quietly. "But don't get me wrong!" she said, looking at Hikari. "My parents don't believe me but I — I…I really do like Takeru… He's… I dunno, he's quiet, but he's…somehow…to _me…_he's kind."

Catherine was talking as if she really meant it. Wait. Maybe she did mean it. She seemed honest, and the way she spoke Takeru's name was as if the name itself could make her heart melt.

"I'm sorry," Catherine said quickly, grinning as if she was embarrassed with herself. "Got carried away! Erm, haha, uh…anyway, I'm Catherine! Catherine Leroy!"

She held out her hand and hesitantly, Hikari shook it.

"Nice to meet you… I'm…" She trailed off. She wanted so much to say, "I'm his girlfriend", but then… "I'm Hikari Yagami."

Still beaming happily, Catherine waved at her. "Well, I hope you can make it to our engagement ceremony!" She seemed so excited about it. Hikari started to make a decision in her head…

Looking away, she mumbled, "…Yeah I'll — I'll try…to come…"

"Thanks, you don't know how much this means to me!" Catherine squealed, and then she went for house 108, while Hikari went for the elevator.

When the elevator swung open, there were several people in it. Hikari had to quickly wipe away her tears to not make people curious.

—X—

Catherine looked over her shoulder. When she saw Hikari walking into the elevator, a similar smirk (like her sister's) appeared on her pale face. Girls like Hikari are so easy to lie to, she thought, and rang the doorbell

* * *

**A/N: **There should be more, but I decided to leave you guys hanging. Sayonara…for the moment.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…lo lo lo…

**A/N: **Fourteenth chapter.

* * *

14. Mere Coincidence.

"Hikari-chan, over here!"

Hikari beamed as she saw Kumiko waving at her. She stepped further into the buzzing school bus and sat next to Kumiko.

"I thought you said you couldn't make it?" Hikari said. Kumiko grinned.

"My elder sisters came home and they said they could take care of house chores for me!" she said happily. "Why, aren't you happy I'm here?" she added, looking at her.

Hikari rolled her eyes. "Of course I am." The girls laughed and then more friends came and they joked and laughed some more.

School holiday just started, and their school held a trip to somewhere fun _(A/N: Scratches head…). _By the looks of it, Hikari's classmates managed to come, and they were just so excited about the trip and also because school was over.

"All right, kids, calm down!" said Miss Miyamori, who was in the same bus. "We're going now, so everyone please sit down."

They did so, though the buzzing and chatting did not stop. Hikari, still smiling, looked out the window and her smile widened. This trip would be fun! She raised her camera (a new one) and snapped a picture of the school. Silly as it may seem, she might just miss the school…

—X—

"Takeru? How's it going in there?"

"…Fine," he said as he tucked in his montsuki kimono into his hakama pants. "Mum, where's my haori?" he asked, annoyed, as he couldn't find the traditional overcoat in his closet.

"Oh, it's in there somewhere, honey."

He pushed away all his other clothes and found the dark blue haori. He put it on and then hesitantly moved in front of the mirror to look at his appearance. He sighed. He didn't actually have to wear all these traditional clothes…it's just a goddamned engagement ceremony, anyway…

"Well? Does it fit?" came his mother's voice.

"Yeah," he replied shortly.

"Good, come out now! We'd want to see it!" said his mother excitedly. Takeru rolled his eyes, but opened the door all the same.

—X—

"Daisuke? Hey, can you tell us what on earth is going on over there? You're in bus three, right?" Hikari asked over her cell phone. The bus driver had stepped onto the brake all of a sudden, sending everyone tumbling onto the floor and flying across the seat. Hikari's head had hit the window and it was badly bruised.

"I dunno, Hikari-chan!" came Daisuke's voice over the phone. The bus he was on was up ahead, and Hikari was hoping he could see what was causing the sudden halt. "Oh — ooh! Oh, wait!"

"What, what is it?" Hikari asked quickly while Kumiko tried to listen. There were many voices over there, and after a while Hikari heard Daisuke's voice again.

"There's a horrible accident!" Daisuke said. "Holy soccer ball, there's a bus! There's a bus! There's a bus!"

"Daisuke, I know there's a bus, but what's wrong with that?" Hikari said impatiently.

"It's fallen off the cliff!" The highway was built in a cliffy-and-mountainy place. Hikari gasped and she told Kumiko about it.

"How many people are in there?"

"I dunno!"

"Izzit a bus from our school?"

"I _dunno! _I'm stuck in _my _bus, Hikari-chan!"

—X—

"You look very graceful, Takeru," said his grandmother as everyone observed him up and down. She wore a very happy smile and was holding a teacup in one hand. "A natural graceful person…I believe you've inherited the family's grace…"

"You really do look good in that," aunt Yukiko said.

"Takeru-niichan good good!" said Hiroki-kun, and Takeru smiled a little to his cousin.

"Come on, into the living room, we'll meet the Leroys," said his grandmother. Everyone didn't say anything but merely followed. Once inside, the Leroy family praised him and all, and then they sat down and soon the radio was switched on. They were waiting for certain things to be settled, and then the ceremony's on. There they sat (the elders were chatting in a stiffly polite manner) around the square table, waiting. The music on the radio did not lighten up his mood at all.

"_I met Catherine."_

_Takeru stopped sweeping the dried leaves. "You did?" Hikari did not turn to meet his eyes. She merely nodded. "When?"_

_"Yesterday."_

_He continued his chore. "And?"_

_"And I think we shouldn't be us anymore."_

_There was a pause. "Speak Japanese, Hikari," he said, hoping it would sound like a joke. She sighed._

_"…I think…you should do as your grandmother told."_

_This wasn't the Hikari he knew. He was telling him to give up? Where was the strong person he once knew, where was the girl who could absorb all sadness and show a happy face?_

_"Okay. I wanna know why," he said._

_"Because she needs you," Hikari said, still refusing to meet his eyes. "And she loves you," she added quietly._

_"Look at me," he said, "and repeat that with a straight face."_

_Her chocolate eyes met his confused blue ones, and she sighed quietly again. The sky showed signs that it might rain. It had rained early this morning, and had stopped later. But now the sky was dark again._

_"She needs you and she loves you."_

_"Are you saying you don't need me and you don't love me—"_

_"N-no, that's not what I—"_

_"—And therefore we must break up?"_

_"No, just — just listen to me first!"_

_"I don't need to listen to you!" he said stubbornly, anger bubbling inside him. "Hikari, what does it matter? I **love **you and this whole engagement thing isn't going to stop us!"_

_"Sooner or later, it will!" she argued back, sweeping the dried leaves faster and faster._

_"How do you know that?" he snapped back. "We don't know what the future holds, Hikari, we might get away from it!"_

_"But what if we don't? What'll happen **then? **Let's say you and me went on with this relationship and then suddenly your grandmother dragged you to marry with Catherine in front of the whole of Japan? What do I have to do then? Watch you get married and cry myself to death?" She was screaming now._

_"Well, marrying someone in front of the whole Japan is pure nonsense!"_

_"That's not the point!"_

_"IT DOESN'T MATTER! I JUST DON'T GET WHY YOU'RE SUDDENLY SAYING ALL THIS AFTER YOU PROMISED WE'LL GO THROUGH IT TOGETHER!"_

_"IT'S BECAUSE SHE NEEDS YOU AND SHE'S ILL! SHE DESERVES BETTER!" she screamed back. The rain began to fall. Heavily._

_"SO NOW YOU'RE SACRIFICING YOUR LOVE BECAUSE YOU THINK SHE 'DESERVES BETTER'? ARE YOU EVEN HONEST ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP?"_

_"OH, NOW YOU'RE CALLING ME DISHONEST?"_

_"YEA, MAYBE I AM!"_

_"Well — w-well fine! I may be dishonest, but you're — you're plain cold! And cruel and heartless! You should pity an ill girl who is madly in love with you!"_

_"I do pity her!" he said, trying to calm down and trying to inject some sense into the girl he loved. "It's horrible to have thalassaemia major, yes, but I — love — you!"_

_There was a pause. The silence was a bit strange to his ears at the moment. The rain kept on falling. He was drenched by that time, and so was she._

_"Everyone tells me to give up," he said loudly over the rain so that he could be heard. "Everyone tells me to forget it — to forget you. But I didn't. I didn't because I love you and I've promised to go through all obstacles with you!"_

_He couldn't tell if she was crying or not. The rain was making it impossible to tell._

_"And now you're telling me what everyone else tells me," he went on. "I didn't give up because I know you'd be with me…but now you're just like them…" He felt warm liquid sliding off his cheek. "How am I supposed to…? When you…?"_

_She merely frowned at him. "Goodbye, Takeru."_

Takeru snapped out of his thoughts when the song from the radio suddenly stopped and was replaced by special news.

_"…Here's the latest news. A bus had fallen off a cliff at kilometre 18.3 at the south highway, heading out of Odaiba. It's believed that the bus was heading out of town towards a place full of fun (A/N: Scratches head…). Another bus was badly damaged as the first bus skidded across the road, and then off the cliff. Those injured were rushed to Odaiba Hospital at high speed. Police has everything…"_

"Wait, did he say the south highway heading out of Odaiba?" Takeru asked, earning a surprised look from everyone.

"Y-yes, dear," said his mother.

Takeru remembered Daisuke blabbering about the school trip and that they would likely take the south highway…

A horrible feeling swept over him — no one knew which bus that was, and who was inside it, right? What if Hikari…?

He stood up quickly and dashed for the door.

"Takeru, where are you going?" his mother called in a confused voice. "The ceremony's starting soon!"

"Somewhere!" he said.

"Stop him!" came his grandmother's voice. Mr. Leroy managed to block the door.

"Let me through," he said firmly.

"Now, now, dear boy, this doesn't make any sense at all," said the man kindly.

"Let me through!"

"Are you going to run off to _that girl's_ place now?" his grandmother spoke softly. He turned to face her, and glared.

"Yea, maybe I am," he said coldly. He hadn't used that tone of voice for some time now.

"Listen, Takeru Takaishi," said his grandmother, standing up. "Everything that's happen to the two of you is mere coincidence!"

"How would you know? You weren't—"

"Oh, I had my sources," said the old lady. Takeru looked at Arya, and knew at once she was the so-called source, for she was smiling a very small smile. "And now, mere coincidence cannot stop this ceremony."

Takeru gritted his teeth, and was bout to argue back when something held him back. They did meet by coincident. If he didn't sleep in class when Hikari had first stepped foot into that class, maybe he wouldn't hate her so much. If he hadn't hate her so much, he wouldn't have fallen in love with her…

And as he thought about it, there are many occasions that happened between them that seemed like pure coincident… Him having to water the flowers on Wednesdays with her…him being in the same history group…him going to her father's birthday…her being stuck with him as it rained and rained outside the house…

…Him falling in love with her…

Then again, it mightn't have been coincidence at all. It might've been his destiny…

"It's my destiny," he said quickly.

"Pardon?"

"I said, it's my destiny to meet her," he said, not bothered about the Leroy family. "You can call it whatever you want, but to me, it's my destiny."

"Destiny?" His grandmother chuckled. "Do you even know what destiny means?"

He opened his mouth to argue, but she cut across him.

"There is no such thing as destiny. It's only a foolish word that man created for their own pleasure…_destiny_, hah…"

"You're right," he said. His grandmother looked at him quickly, puzzled. "Maybe we did meet coincidentally. Maybe everything was a coincident. But you know what? Destiny _wanted_ us to meet by coincidence. Destiny wanted us to coincidentally fall for each other, and I don't care if you think destiny's rubbish or anything, cuz I really don't CARE!"

With that, he turned and ran. Mr. Leroy was off guard, and he managed to run past him. He quickly dashed downstairs _(A/N: This even didn't happen in Takeru's house, but it happened in his grandmother's mansion in Odaiba. She had another three mansions in Tokyo, two in Hokkaido and several more all over Japan. GASPS!)._ He didn't care if he had to run all the way to Odaiba Hospital or anything, he just needed to know if Hikari was in the bus that was badly damaged or not…or if she was in the bus that fell of the…

He paused outside. It'd be too far to run all the way. His eyes spotted his cousin's skateboard, and he quickly hopped onto it. He'd look for a taxi later, but at the moment, this was the fastest method.

—X—

"Students! We're going to the hospital now!" said Miss Miyamori and everyone groaned. "The headmaster's bus was hit pretty bad and so we're all going. By the way, some of you are injured too — Hikari-chan, that's a horrible bruise."

"But I'm fine!" Hikari argued, but the teacher took no notice.

"The bus that's fallen off the cliff was, fortunately, not apart of our trip. It was heading the same way though. Now everyone sit down and calm down."

—X—

Everyone stared, whispered and pointed as he zoomed by. Of course, someone wearing traditional clothes zooming away on a skateboard was something weird, but he didn't give a damn. He was breathing fast, and he'd seen a taxi at the side of the road, and a passenger had just got out. He jumped off his skateboard, sweating, and ran as fast as he could towards the taxi.

"Odaiba…Hospital…please," he panted.

"Jeez, what are you?" the taxi driver said, observing him up and down, wearing a smile. "The runaway groom?"

"Shuddup…shuddup and…just…take me there…"

"Okay, okay. Hop in, kid."

—X—

"No mum, I'm OK. No. No, the bus wasn't apart of our trip. Yeah. Okay, bye. Love you too," said Hikari and she hung up. Her mother had been worried sick about her, and all she's got was a bruise. The doctor said it wasn't serious, and so she went out to wait with her friends. The hospital was crowded with the students from her school. Some were badly injured, but some escaped without a scratch.

Kumiko handed her a can of orange juice and she took it, saying thanks. Suddenly, Minoru, a classmate of hers, came running towards them.

"Yagami! Yagami!"

"What's up?" she asked, as the boy panted.

"I saw Takeru!"

"What?" she asked quickly. _"What?"_

"I — saw — Takeru! He was running like mad — in a kimono!"

She frowned deeper. "WHAT?"

"I think he's looking for you!" Minoru said excitedly.

"Erm…" She didn't know what to say… "I, umm, need to go to the toilet. E-excuse me…"

She shut the toilet door and leaned against it. What on earth was he doing here? In a kimono? Was he really looking for her? But… Even if it's true, she wasn't sure she wanted to meet him…

Sighing, she took out her cell phone, and dialled her home number. She wanted to go home. Besides, tomorrow's going to be a tiring day — the Yagamis were moving away after living in Odaiba for only a short period.

* * *

**A/N: **Short one. I know. Hanging again! XD I'm bad.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own, kih kih kih…

**A/N: **The new fifteenth chapter.

* * *

15. Goodbye Odaiba.

Hikari splashed some water onto her face, and then stared at her reflection. No, she was not avoiding him. Instead her heart was beating very fast — she was excited, happy and glad he was there. But she was also afraid of this meeting. They might be together for a brief moment, but she was moving away, and he was getting engaged. Any which way, their relationship wouldn't and couldn't last long.

Sighing, she got out of the toilet — and jumped in surprised as someone shouted out her name.

**"HIKARIIIIII!"**

She didn't get the chance to see who it was — all she saw was a flash of dark blue and yellow — and the next thing she knew, someone who was breathing very hard was hugging her very, very tightly. For a while, that person didn't say anything, but kept on panting. Hikari was still quite shocked (for a while, she thought someone was going to attack her) and didn't know what to say.

Coughing slightly now, the other person slowly let go and examined her. Once more, Hikari got her chance to stare at those caring blue eyes.

Takeru coughed again, as he held her by the shoulders, and did not say anything. When he had taken several deep breaths, he spoke.

"You're not dead," he said. She frowned and was about to scold him for saying that, but then she thought that he must've been tuning in to the news on TV or something - _that _was why he was here...to check up on her...

Clearing her throat, she shrugged his hands off her shoulders. "Yes, I'm not. Listen, I gotta-"

"What's _that?" _he asked, reaching out a hand to push back her brown locks.

"Uh — nothing, just a bruise - the doctor said it's fine," she said. And then she observed _him. _"What're you wearing?" she asked, despite herself.

The blonde muttered something under his breath.

She looked away. Was he there because he had — finally — gone through the engagement?

"...Kumiko is waiting for me. I have to go," she said in the end.

"I heard the news about the bus that fell off the cliff and I thought…well, I thought it might be the bus _you _were in," he suddenly explained, blocking her way as she started to walk away. Hikari took a deep breath, and exhaled. She had planned this through: if she had to meet Takeru again before moving away, she would calmly remind him about Catherine, and say no to whatever he had to say. Yes. That's the plan.

"Goodbye, Takeru-"

_"Don't_!" he warned. "Don't. Just...don't do this."

"What happened to the engagement?" she asked, as flatly as she could.

"I ran off, what d'you _think?"_ he said.

"You ran in _this?"_

"Yes. Yes I did. It didn't matter - I wanted to check if you were okay..."

"And I am," she said, "so you can go back now. Catherine's probably worried about you by now."

He did not reply, and did not look at her, so, silently, she sidestepped him, and walked away.

—X—

"Man, I'm gonna miss her."

"I KNOWW! ESPECIALLY MEE!"

Takeru stopped in his tracks. He and his mother had just came back from the stupid mansion and believe it or not, he — was — _officially — _engaged — with — that — daughter — of — a — He and Yamato (he was there to stay for two more days) decided to get out of the apartment and so they were at the Inoue's shop. He had not the chance to contact Hikari to tell her that he was back (his phone was still with his mother) and so he thought, maybe he could drop by after this. But that was when he heard two familiar voices in the shop.

"…been like, less than a year and she's gone now!" said a voice, which no doubt belonged to Kumiko. "Oh, stop looking so mournful, Daisuke! You know she's with Takeru, so obviously she doesn't—"

"What d'you mean by 'less than a year and she's gone'?" Takeru asked sharply as he met Kumiko and Daisuke at the payment counter.

"Oh, hey Takeru. We were just talking about…well, about Hikari. Don't feel bad, man, because she'll write and she said she'll eventually visit if she has the t—"

"Write? _Visit?"_ Takeru repeated, frowning. To his displeasure, Kumiko and Daisuke frowned back.

"Don't you…don't you _know?"_ Kumiko asked. He rolled his eyes.

"If I do I wouldn't be frowning in confusion, would I?" he snapped impatiently.

"No…no, you wouldn't — Takeru, Hikari's moved away! To Heiwa _(A/N: Wherever that is)_! That town is like, six hours away if you travel by car and—"

"She's **WHAT?"**

"You _seriously _don't know?" Daisuke butted in. He looked so shocked. "You're his _boyfriend _and you don't _know?"_

"Didn't she tell you?"

Takeru stood there, frowning and blinking. His mind was blank. Hikari…_moved?_

"Go chase her, you idiot Goldie Locks! I mean, she was looking all so sad and you're standing here like the idiot you always are!" Daisuke said hotly.

"Yeah, she can't be far off, we just watched her go — so… GO!" Kumiko said. Nodding hastily, he went for the door.

"Be right back!" he managed to tell his brother before breaking into a super duper fast run. He guessed her car might take the usual road out of Odaiba, so he went for it, using certain short cuts he'd known since he was seven or eight.

Why didn't she tell him? Why didn't she even _bother _telling him? He could've been there to at least make her feel better — last goodbye, last "I love you" or last kiss…

But then the truth hit him — she didn't _want _all those… Last goodbye, last "I love you" and a last kiss would only make her awfully sad…and perhaps seeing him was the worse part. Hearing that he was already engaged might just kill her on the spot…

Takeru ran faster and faster, avoiding people on bikes and those who were in his way. Up ahead he could see the road leading to the main highway — and thank god; there was a sort of a traffic jam. He ran, if possible, even faster. The traffic jam might buy him some time, but he was still pretty far away…

The cars started to move, slowly…slowly… One by one, they went off…

"Almost there…"

—X—

"Hikari…chan?"

"Mmm?"

"Hikari-chan — look, isn't that…someone you know?" Taichi asked, pressing his face against the window and squinting.

"Fat chance Taichi," she replied with a sigh. There was a pause.

"Oooh — no, no, no, no — you know him, it's that Takeru dude — look I think he's — _calling _your name!" Taichi said, pulling her towards the window and getting out of the way. "Look! See for yourself!"

She looked — and at the same time, the car began to move. "Dad, don't drive yet!"

"W-what? But I gotta go along with the flow or people will—"

But Hikari wasn't listening. She was busy rolling downthe window. Sure enough, it _was _Takeru — and he was running again. For her. To see _her._ For the sake of their love…

"HIKARIIIIIIIIII!"

"Takeru, which part of 'goodbye' do you not get? Stop chasing me!" she called back, as the car gained speed. She didn't want to see him — that was the whole point of not telling him that she was going to move away. She didn't want to face it. She didn't want to be there when he announced that he was engaged. She didn't want to hear him say goodbye. She didn't want to…

"HIKARI, PROMISE ME YOU'LL WRITE!" he shouted as the distance between them grew.

Hikari bit her lip. She wasn't planning to contact him anymore…

"TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF — AND I'M SORRY ABOUT YOUR SHOES, I'LL REPLACE THEM SOMEHOW!"

Feeling her eyes getting wet, she shouted back, "TAKAISHI, YOU SHOE WASHER!"

"PROMISE ME! PROMISE ME YOU'LL WRITE!" he shouted, his figure getting smaller as the car went on. Even her mother was watching and she had a weird feeling that her father was also paying attention. Takeru's pace began to slow down, but he did not stop waving. Tears began to drop, and she began to wave back, too.

"I'LL WRITE!" she shouted, as Takeru stopped running but kept jogging now.

But Takeru had already stopped now, though still waving a hand to her. She waved back with all her might.

"GOODBYE, TAKERU!" she shouted at the tiny figure.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry for the late update! Hit me if you want!


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own… And I do not own Sephiroth or his theme song, OK?

**A/N: **Sixteenth chapter.

* * *

16. And I Thought I Was Going to Give Up On Her.

Takeru pushed the door home and said in a low voice, "I'm home." But he doubted that anyone could hear it. Slowly, with aching legs, he walked in and sat down to take off his shoes. When he was taking off his left shoe, Yamato came.

"Ho, you're back. Where did you go?" asked the older boy, sitting down on the sofa and turning to TV on.

"Is mum home?" Takeru asked instead.

"No. Where did you go?"

Takeru threw his shoes away towards the shoe rack. "A little jog around the neighbourhood."

"Yeah right — and I'm doing a duet with Elvis Presley tonight. C'mon, where did you go? All you said was 'be right back' or something like that before speeding off. You were as white as paper, I thought you were going out to vomit or something…"

Takeru grabbed a can of Coke in the fridge before throwing himself onto the sofa next to his brother. He took his time drinking, a couple of gulps, before answering quietly. "Hikari-chan's moved away, I went to say goodbye."

Yamato chocked on his Coke, snorted, and began to cough _(A/N: You know how painful it is when you have soft drink up in your nose) _non-stop. Takeru slapped his back several times. It took quite a while for Yamato to stop, and when he did, he kept clearing his throat before he was able to talk.

"She's WHAT?"

Takeru frowned, half shocked and half curious on why his brother was oh so very worried about this. "She's moved — why are _you _so surprised?"

"Dammit!" Yamato said, frustrated, before leaning back and tugging at his own hair. "I was so _close…"_

Takeru eyed his brother with curiosity. And then things came into his mind: Hikari didn't want to say goodbye to him, maybe because she couldn't bare it or maybe because she was in love with his…

"DON'T you go on thinking rubbish, Takeru, it's nothing like what you're thinking," said Yamato, as if he was able to read his little brother's mind. Takeru raised his eyebrows.

"What _am _I thinking?" he said testily. Yamato sort of glared at him.

"That I'm having an affair with your dearly beloved."

Takeru felt himself going pink.

"Relax, I have Sora, remember? She'd kill me if I flirt with my brother's girlfriend…" And then, Yamato sighed deeply, looking troubled once more. Even though he was relieved, Takeru was still very curious.

"So…what's up?"

"Nothing, just concerned about my lil bro's love life."

Takeru sipped his Coke. "C'mon, seriously — what's up?" Yamato groaned and then buried his head in his hands. His voice was muffled when he spoke.

"…I hwas trying to get mm and dad b'ck tg'th'r…"

"Pardon?"

Yamato lifted his head. "I was trying to get mum and dad back together! And without Hikari, it'd be waaaay harder!" Before Takeru could ask more questions, Yamato said, "It was for your own sake, too." But this did not help at all, for Takeru became more confused and curious. Detecting the frown on Takeru's face, Yamato began to explain. "Okay. You know the whole engagement thingy?"

Takeru nodded slowly.

"Okay. Dad and I disagreed one hundred percent, full stop."

"Oh, nice to know that — and you guys didn't even come to the rescue when I was getting engaged," he replied sarcastically.

"I know, I know… Anyway, the day before I got here, dad expressed his concerns. You know how he is, sometimes he keeps so many things to himself…and sometimes he fails miserably to do so — he said he _wished _we're still a family, so that you don't have to go through the so-called Takaishi tradition…"

Takeru smiled stiffly. He knew his dad — when he was younger, he used to think that his dad would fall for his mother once more and they'd get married again, but as he grew, he'd stopped believing… But as he grew, he also saw evidences that his dad was still sort of 'attached' to his mother. So, secretly, he still believed.

"…Which managed to make me think of something," Yamato was saying. He eyed Takeru carefully, and then said, "An _Ishida_ like me doesn't have to go through the _Takaishi_ tradition."

Blue eyes met blue eyes; they seemed to have reached an understanding.

"So…get mum and dad together…"

"_And _rescue you from the Takaishi tradition," said Yamato, nodding. "Once you're an Ishida, the engagement is nothing! Look at me, I'm an Ishida, and I'm not engaged. So what excuse can Oba-chan give?"

Takeru fell quiet for a moment. "I thought you weren't going to help me at all," he said, grinning. Yamato grinned back. "So it's two birds with one stone…but what's Hikari got to do with any of this?"

"Okay, this was my plan: I want the two of you — two lovey-dovey teens — to encourage dad. Follow?"

"Err…not really."

"First step, I wanted you to show dad that once you've fallen in love with someone, there's no stopping it. Like you, even though you have to go through the engagement, you still fight for your love. Second step, if dad sees your determination, then he'll be braver and perhaps he'd start wooing mum or something. And if _that _works, we'll be Ishidas once more. Third and final step, we'd break the engagement, and you're free to go with whoever you like. _Now _d'you get it?"

Takeru merely nodded quietly. "And I thought I was going to give up on her," he said at last, grinning alone. "Thanks, niisan."

"Aww, what're brothers for, ne, _ickle Keru-kun?"_ Yamato said teasingly, ruffling up Takeru's hair with fake affection. Takeru threw a small pillow at his brother at the sound of 'ickle Keru-kun'.

* * *

**A/N:** Takeru Takaishi digivolves...to Takeru Ishida! XD Will he be able to?


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…

**A/N: Seven**teenth chapter.

* * *

17. Getting Side-tracked: Trust me, this WILL help!

Miss Takaishi opened the door and entered, announcing her arrival in a quiet voice. It was almost one thirty in the morning or so, but the TV was still on. She could hear voices and music coming from the living room, and went to check. She could see someone was sitting on the sofa. Smiling, she approached the living room.

"Not sleepy, are you?" she asked gently. "Who's this, Yamato or Takeru?"

There was no reply. She went nearer, and saw her eldest son snoozing gently on the sofa, with the remote control in one hand and a small pillow in another. Smiling alone, she took the remote control slowly and switched the TV off. Natsuko Takaishi then stood there, watching her eldest soon sleeping. She didn't know why, but she guessed she simply missed Yamato. Still smiling, she went into her bedroom and took out an extra blanket, and went back into the living room. She covered up her soon lovingly, and pecked him on the cheek.

Natsuko then turned to look at Takeru's closed bedroom door. Was he asleep, too? Her younger son was a late sleeper, but who knows, maybe he was already asleep…

Slowly, she went towards the bedroom door and knocked. "Takeru dear?" she called softly. No answer. She knocked gently again. "Takeru?" When again, she received no answer, she opened the door slowly.

Natsuko smiled again, as she saw her second son lying on the bed — sleeping like a log — with the laptop near his face and his fingers still on the keys. She stiffened up a laugh and entered the room. She pulled a chair and sat there, watching him sleep. After that, she slowly removed Takeru's hand from the keys, before lifting the laptop and placing it onto the bedside table. She switched it off, and then sat there, watching quietly.

She knew how much Takeru hated her now, for forcing him into the engagement even after he tried to talk to her… She noticed that Takeru had been avoiding her eyes, and even avoided having any conversations with her. Thank God Yamato was there for a few more days — but when he went back home, what was she to do?

Sighing, she looked away from her son, and her eyes caught sight of a notebook next to the laptop. She reached for it, and flipped through the pages.

_Detention — Monday, after school. Miss Miyamori's office._

_Detention — Thursday and Friday, after school, Mr. Tizzy's office._

_Detention — Thursday and Friday, Balding English Teacher's office (if he has one. I'd be surprise if he does)_

_Daisuke's sister's party — why am I going again? Saturday, Number 7456, 1st block, apartment near the soccer field. Doesn't he even have a proper address?_

Natsuko smiled. This was a sort of organiser. She flipped through it — and her eyes caught sight of the word 'detention' over and over again, with occasional notes and mild insults or thoughts ("Niisan needs to lessen that hair gel or it'll look _fake"). _She tried to look for the engagement date, and found it. Sure, Natsuko was a little surprised. She didn't think Takeru would even write about _that. _This was what it said:

_Engagement ceremony — Oba-chan's mansion._

And below this one — with the same date — was this:

_School trip — doubt that I can go, but I can try. Supposed to be in the same bus with Hikari._

Natsuko stared at the name Hikari. She'd met her during that birthday party — she seemed like a nice girl, and again she met her during the match. Natsuko still hadn't apologised to her for what had happened on the basketball match though…

She flipped through the pages absent-mindedly, until she reached one page where there were two very different writings. She recognised Takeru's handwriting, but failed to identify the other. It seemed to be a sort of dialogue:

_Not hungry? _(This was Takeru's writing)

_No, you? Daisuke's sister's birthday. This Saturday, wanna come? _(This was written very neatly, so Natsuko guessed that it must be a girl's writing)

_Heck NO._

_Aw, c'mon. Why not?_

_Because his sister is as bad as he is._

_It's OK if you hate him, but how d'you know his sister's personality before you met her?_

_I've met her, all right. She used to be all over my niisan like stalking and cheering and bothering him all day. She couldn't even breathe when she was around._

Natsuko smiled. This was a sort of conversation — probably held in the library or during class when they were paired up and were not supposed to be talking — but whoever it was that Takeru was talking (or writing) to, he (or she) seemed to be really friendly and close to Takeru. Knowing her son, she doubted that anyone was brave enough to even talk to him (with the constant cold look and the death glare), let alone pass notes to him (he'd probably ignore it). She read through, and yes, she was impressed with this person Takeru was writing to — he (or she) didn't seem to care about Takeru's 'weirdness', and instead, he (or she) even managed to make Takeru draw a smiley.

Natsuko's eyes stopped as she saw one sentence:

_Over my dead body first, Yagami._

Yagami. Hikari Yagami…

So it was her.

Natsuko paused, and thought. Was this girl really something? She did notice that Takeru changed a bit this year — he was a little talkative and he didn't have that usual cold look on all the time — and she was pretty sure that he'd made a few friends at school. What made Takeru change so suddenly, she did not know. But after reading their conversation, she was almost positive that this was the person who helped her son soften up a bit…

She was about to close the notebook when something slipped out of it. It fell onto the floor, and she retrieved it — and at once stopped dead when she saw what it was. It was a photograph — a photograph taken a long time ago that she'd almost forgotten about it completely. This must be way back, when Takeru was two and Yamato was five…

It was a picture of the four Ishidas, posed in front of Hiroaki's _(A/N: Hiroaki Ishida, Takeru's father. Right? Err. Correct me if I'm wrong)_ mother's garden.

Slowly, she looked at the back of the photograph. There was Takeru's writing — no doubt written when he was younger.

_Hiroaki Ishida, Natsuko Ishida, Yamato Ishida and Takeru Ishida — a family : D_

You do not know how guilty Natsuko felt when she saw that.

—X—

_Flashback_

"Are you sure this'll work?" Takeru asked, raising an eyebrow, as his brother placed the photograph into his notebook and closed it. He then placed it carefully onto the bedside table, and turned to face Takeru, grinning.

"Yeah, trust me. I've been observing her since I first got here to watch your basketball match — she checks your room each night and would linger there for several minutes."

"How do you know that, now?" Takeru asked.

"Heh. I pretend to be asleep in the living room. She would check on me first before going into your room," said Yamato lazily, while Takeru shook his head slowly.

"You had this planned from the beginning, didn't you?" Takeru said. The other merely smirked.

"Okay, so! See the magic the next morning — remember, I placed the photo right in the middle of your notebook — the next morning, it would be in the front page. Believe me, you'll see!"

Takeru rolled his eyes. "It'd better work, niisan."

_End of flashback_

"See? What'd I tell yah?" Yamato said, smiling lazily, hands on his hips, as he watched Takeru opened the notebook. It was just as he predicted — the photo had been removed.

* * *

**A/N: **OK, short chapter again. XP


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own… Do not own both Digimon and Kingdom Hearts… And, oh yea. I do not own Sailor Moon.

**A/N: **Eighteenth chapter.

* * *

18. Miss Miyamori's Wedding. What Fun~!

A brown haired girl was seen walking into the cafeteria alone, holding some books in her hands. She made her way to an empty table far from the chatting students, and as she passed by, most people glared and whispered to one another. By now, Hikari Yagami had learnt how to ignore those people, and that was what she did. She ignored them until she reached her usual table, and sat down. She opened her notebook and began scanning through her list of home works.

Hikari stopped as she saw the notes on one page: _Miss Miyamori's wedding, this Saturday._

She couldn't help smiling as the memory of Miharu telephoning her swam back into her head.

_"Hey, girl! Omigosh, it's been SO long since we've last seen you!"_

_She was going to say that it was an exaggeration, but really, she couldn't. A year was indeed a pretty long time._

_"Tell me all about your year!" she had insisted, and Miharu was more than glad to do so._

_"Okay, okay. Gosh, where to start? Let's see - ooh! The history project! You _never _had the chance to see the end result, did you? That's a shame, really, cuz you guys did great on the presentation!"_

_"Well, tell me who got the top marks already!"_

_"Who d'you _think? _Mr. Seimaru was teasing us real bad and only revealed the marks when we threatened to attack his office. Your group had the top marks, of course, and mine got second-highest."_

_"Oh, no way! Really?"_

_"Come on, stop acting like you're surprised. You had THE madman on your team, of course you'd get top marks!"_

_Hikari had laughed at the word 'madman' - she'd forgotten how she and the rest of the class used to call Takeru The Madman Takaishi. "So, how's the madman and everyone else?"_

_"Haven't you been in contact with anyone from our class? Sheesh!"_

_"Err...not really, I kinda lost some phone numbers, heh." The truth was, she didn't want to call them...it would make her feel left out..._

_"Liar," Miharu had said playfully, but she filled her in anyway. "Hm, let's see. Takaishi was pretty depressed several weeks after you departed. Heck, I think the whole class was silently mourning for a while, you know?"_

_"I'd like to believe _that."

_"Hey, it's the truth! Takaishi mourned silently, of course, but Daisuke was - my gosh, he was SO expressive, I'll tell ya that. Near the end of the year, there's this soccer match between classes, and we won, all thanks to you."_

_Hikari frowned. "Me? How so? I wasn't even there!"_

_"Well, Daisuke was really down and stuff, so his team members bribed the cheer leaders to dye their hair brown and pretty much dress the way you always do."_

_Her mouth hung open and her face began to feel hot. "Oh. My. GOD. WHAT!"_

_Miharu simply giggled at the other end of the line. "Kumiko had everything recorded, don't worry! You can watch the video when you're here!"_

_"Uh...I don't think I'm going to Odaiba anytime soon, Miharu...sorry."_

_"Oh, no, you ARE coming! I forgot - that's why I called you in the first place! Listen: Miss Miyamori is getting married this Saturday!" __The girls took their time squealing at this, and then Miharu went on: "She's invited our entire class and some other students that she taught last year - it's going to be fun! "_

Hikari had been looking forward to this wedding. It was the only thing she could look forward to, anyway. Things had been rough for her in Heiwa...the first week was okay, but things started to go downhill afterwards. She'd learnt that not all schools had friendly students. She should've known that before — she'd done a huge mistake, thinking Heiwa High had friendly students. This was what happened:

Hikari wasn't the usual optimistic person she always was when she first moved to Heiwa. She was still thinking about Takeru, about the engagement, about the anaemic Catherine — about _everything — _and was always down. Chiharu, who sat beside her, noticed her behaviour, and asked what was wrong. Hikari thought it'd be all right to tell her about it a bit — but she made a huge mistake by telling her about Takeru already having a fiancé. Soon, the whole school marked her as The Fiancé Stealer — and no one wanted to be too close to her, in case she'd 'steal their soul mates' — all thanks to Chiharu's big mouth.

For the first time in her life, Hikari Yagami actually had _no friends at all. _And things at home weren't any better, either… Her mother hadn't been feeling so well lately, and kept vomiting — Hikari, Taichi and their father were very worried. Later, their father brought her to the hospital, and the doctor insisted that she should stay there for some time.

Thank God Taichi could be a great brother at times like these — he walked with her to school and from school, and made stupid jokes almost all the time. Hikari also received letters from Kumiko, and the phone call from Miharu really cheered her up.

And the thought of seeing _him _again made her feel all funny inside.

In a good way, mind you.

—X—

Takeru threw the basketball idly into the air, and caught it again afterwards. He was lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling. After a few seconds, a smile began to form on his lips as he remembered what had happened earlier that day.

_"Takaishi! Hey, Takaishi!"_

_Takeru slowed down his pace and turned to see who had been calling his name. He was on his way back home from school (fourth day in new class!). He saw Miharu, his ex-classmate (and ex-class monitor). He stopped._

_"Here, this is for you," she said, handing him something that looked like an invitation card. On the envelope was a familiar handwriting — it said, "To Takeru Takaishi". He raised an eyebrow questioningly at Miharu. "Miss Miyamori's getting married this Saturday! And she's invited all her students from last year."_

_There was a pause where Takeru examined the invitation card inside the envelope. After a while, Miharu spoke again._

_"And have you received Hikari-chan's new phone number?"_

_This made him look up quickly. "No. No, I haven't."_

_He swore he saw Miharu smirked. She and him didn't really know each other, but Hikari was his friend as well as hers. Miharu stretched out her hand, which held a piece of paper. "Give her a call, why don't you?"_

_Again, Takeru fell silent as he examined the second item. "OK."_

_Miharu smiled at this before walking away._

Would he come to the wedding? Of course. Remember, it was all thanks to Miss Miyamori's punishment (to bring Hikari a desk and a chair) that the two of them began hating each other in the first place. Smiling slowly at the memory, Takeru sat up and fished out the little piece of paper with Hikari's phone number on it out of his pocket. He contemplated it for a while before taking out his cell phone. He played around with the basketball after dialling the number.

He waited. After the fourth dial or so, someone picked up.

_"Hello, Yagami's residence, who do you wish to speak to?"_

"Err — is Hikari home?"

_"Yes, she is, hold on,"_ said the other (Hikari's mother, obviously, since there were no other women in her family). He waited (rather nervously — and he didn't know why) until he heard her voice at the other end.

_"Hello?"_ said Hikari, and to be honest, she sounded a little melancholic. Was everything okay? She hadn't called him much throughout the year, but they did exchange e-mails and chatted online...

_"Hello?_" Hikari repeated when she got no replies. _"Hello, who's there?"_

Takeru sort of slapped himself on the face, and sat up straight. "Oh, sorry. Hey, it's me."

A pause.

_"Oh. Hey,"_ she said quietly. _"I mean — ha, ha — erm, Takeru, right?"_

He nodded alone. "Yeah…"

Another pause yet again. It was broken when Takeru gave a small laugh.

_"What? What's so funny?"_ she asked. He could almost see her frowning face now.

Well, firstly, nothing was actually funny. He was disappointed instead. He'd been expecting this to happen... She had, after all, said goodbye to him on that day at the hospital, and had moved away to Heiwa without telling him. She _had _intended to end it right there and then...

"Nothing. Nothing — hey, listen, um, Miss Miyamori's getting married this Saturday."

_"Oh yes, I know that - Miharu's told me!"_ She sounded so excited now.

"Yeah, cool huh?" he replied, smiling as he imagined how her facial expression was like at the moment. "So…yeah, that's pretty much it. She said you must come. Everyone from our class last year's gonna be there... And we're supposed to meet at our old class - or so it says here in the card."

_"That's great!"_ Hikari said happily. Of course, to her, it would be like a long-waited reunion. _"You're coming too, right?"_

"Yeah, of course," he said in reply. "So. See you there, then."

_"OK, sure thing!"_ she chirped. That's better, he thought. _"Maybe I'll come on Friday right after school — I can stay at a hotel or whatever…"_

"Right, yeah. Awesome."

_"Okay...umm. Bye then-"_

"No, wait - hold on a sec."

Pause.

_Well?_

_What is it that you wanted to say to her?_

_Say you're sorry again?_

"...Are you...happy there?" he asked after a long thought. She gave a small laugh.

_"Am I happy here? Well, what d'you think?"_

"I'm sorry."

_"You know - it's okay. Or. Whatever - listen, we'll talk some more when we meet, okay?"_

"Don't dismiss me like that. Please." There was another pause yet again, so he knew she was willing to listen. "That day when you said goodbye to me. Do you really mean it?"

She gave no answer whatsoever, but she didn't hang up, either.

"I know that another apology from me simply won't cut it," he said, now standing up and pacing about his room, "but I really am sorry. I-"

_"You know, when I got here," _she suddenly interrupted, _"there's this boy from another class who was really friendly to me."_

Takeru stopped dead in his tracks. What was she saying?

_"After about a week, he said he liked me. But d'you know what I did? Instead of saying I like him as well, I freakin' told him I'm in a long-distance relationship - so go on ahead and feel good about yourself, Takeru Takaishi, because only God knows no matter what I try, I-"_

The next two words were spoken at the same time.

_"-Love you."_

By now, he was feeling all funny inside, and little did he know, that way over there in Heiwa, she was feeling all funny inside, too.

—X—

Dinner was horrible. Not the food, but the atmosphere. Usually his mother wouldn't be there with him, and he'd enjoy a peaceful, quiet dinner — but not that night.

Takeru and Natsuko sat across each other at the table, eating quietly. The only sound audible was their chopsticks colliding softly with their bowls of rice. As expected, his mother began a conversation soon after.

"Takeru, dear."

He merely looked up.

"Umm. Listen, do you…do you have any plans on Friday?" she asked gently. Takeru, still eyeing here, shook his head slowly. "Okay, great. It's Catherine's birthday this Friday, actually."

"Okay," he said shortly, and continued to eat.

"You know she's always going back and forth — Odaiba, Tokyo, Odaiba, Tokyo — but this time she's staying for a few days here."

He merely nodded. "Okay."

"So, umm, we're going to pick her up at the airport on Friday. Come with me?"

"Okay." With that, he stood and walked into the kitchen. He washed the dishes, and then went into his room. He closed the door.

—X—

Natsuko stared at the closed door of her son's bedroom, and sighed. His replies were, "OK", "OK" and "OK". So automatically, she knew something was KO. After clearing the dining table, she sat on the sofa and switched on the TV. But after several minutes, she switched it off (her mind was elsewhere), and once more turned to look at the closed door. She stood up and walked towards it.

"Knock, knock, can I come in?" she said. There was a brief pause.

"Sure. Not locked, mum." She entered. Takeru was sitting Indian style on the bed in front of the laptop. She came nearer and sat on the bed, too.

"What're you doing?" she asked, trying to be friendly.

"Chatting."

"Owh — who izzit?"

"Niisan," Takeru replied casually. "He said dad is wondering a lot about us."

She raised her eyebrows. "He is?"

Takeru nodded, before turning to meet her eyes. "Yamato said you've stopped telephoning them. Why?"

She looked away. "W-well, I was — busy…" Natsuko saw Takeru nodded a little, before returning to the laptop. "Takeru, actually I…umm…"

Her son took his eyes off the laptop screen once more to meet her eyes.

She sighed, very, very quietly. "I overheard your conversation. With Hikari…on the phone."

Takeru didn't look away for several seconds, but did so after that. He began to type real fast.

"So — your teacher's getting married this Saturday, huh?"

"Don't tell me I can't go just because her birthday's on Friday," Takeru snapped. His usual cold look was on. A moment ago, he was being the quiet Takeru…

"No, I'm not saying you can't go, but think about Catherine—"

"What about her?"

"She's a guest, and…I dunno, I was hoping if…maybe you could…bring her along to the wedding—"

"Mum," Takeru said loudly, getting off the bed, "I'm going to change — please close the door when you leave."

"But — Takeru—"

"Please. Mum. Just — go."

Natsuko's blue eyes fell to the floor, and then she stood up. Hesitantly, she left the room, closing the door as she did so.

The moment his mother left the room, Takeru threw himself onto the bed again, groaning. He buried his face on the pillow. _Bring her along?_

* * *

**A/N: **Oh wow. What a crappy chapter.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…

**A/N: **Nineteenth chapter.

* * *

19. Reunion and…WT(!)? Life's Brief Candle? That's random…even this title is random… Wait, what's gotten into me? Urgh never mind, read on.

"Takeru, hurry up, we're gonna be late!" his mother called from outside the room.

"Just a minute," he called back, turning his attention to his mobile phone. He heard his mother opened the door.

"Lock the door when you get out, I'm going to start the car, okay?"

"OK," he called back. Hikari had just sent him a message, saying that she's on her way to Odaiba right now.

_'Hoping 2 C U tomorrow, Shoe Washer.'_

Takeru smiled alone. Yes, the wedding was tomorrow, but Hikari said she'd come to Odaiba today… After staring at the message for a while, he stepped out of his room and then out of the door. At least now he had something to look forward to.

The journey to the airport was boring. None of them said anything to each other, and Takeru was fine with that. However, his mother did seem a bit uncomfortable, and kept stealing glances at him whenever she could — as if she was checking if he was doing OK. Takeru knew that his mother felt guilty about suggesting Catherine to come along to the wedding. He was sure that she knew this was his chance to see Hikari, and he was sure that she knew that bringing Catherine would definitely ruin this chance, and he was positive that if this chance is ruined, his hatred towards his mother and Catherine AND Oba-chan (the one responsible for all this) would increase — so all in all, he knew that his mother was feeling guilty about all this.

They arrived at the airport and waited for Catherine in silence. Takeru had his basketball magazine along with him, so he just sat there and read, while his mother kept craning her neck to see whether Catherine had arrived or not.

"Takeru, dear, could you please — stand up — and see if Catherine's here?" she asked, as a new crowd arrived at the airport. Takeru stood and, being the tall person he was (even his chat name was **I'm1800cmTall**), spotted Catherine at once.

"She's here," he said simply, and pointed. Natsuko gave a happy "ah" before walking towards the girl. The two greeted each other — hug, hug, smile, smile, laugh, laugh — before making their way towards Takeru (who decided to stay by the seats and continue reading his magazine instead).

"Hello, Takeru!" Catherine greeted with a smile. Although she was noticeably pale, she was wearing a very beautiful purple dress with laces as decorations. Her hair was very well decorated too, with hair clips and fascinating ribbons — she was _stylish, _just like her sister.

Thinking about Arya made Takeru felt sick. She was too kind to refuse Natsuko's offer to come along — _homework, _she said — and Takeru was VERY grateful for that.

He nodded a little. "Hi."

"How're you lately?" she asked, as Natsuko led the way to the car, bringing Catherine's bags along with her.

"Fine." After a few minutes, he asked, "You?"

"Owh, I haven't gone through the blood transfusion yet for this month, but not to worry — I'm fine, thank you!" she chirped happily. Well, that's good if she's OK. Takeru really didn't want her to faint or _die _on Friday or Saturday — it'll stop him from seeing Hikari if he had to sit and wait for Catherine at the hospital — and if she _did _die, he wouldn't want to miss the wedding just because of her funeral.

They got into the car (more jokes from both ladies, laughter, laughter, questions, laughter, jokes, jokes) and made their way to the Leroy's house _(A/N: Catherine often went back and forth from Odaiba to Tokyo for check-ups, and usually her parents would fetch her at the airport, and there were times when one of her parents would follow her to Tokyo too. I dunno and I don't think I'd care about her education or which school she went to. Her family lived in Odaiba, not Tokyo)._

"…And then there was this intern, his eyes were so HUGE!" Catherine was saying, and then both of them laughed (though Takeru saw nothing funny in her words at all). Takeru sighed very quietly, and turned his attention out the window. There were kids surrounding the ice cream man, a skater skating down the road (this made him smiled alone as he recalled the event where he ran away from the ceremony on a skate board just to check if Hikari was alive or dead), people getting down from a bus near the bus stop…

He was watching the scenery — and you know how fast things and people would flash in front of the window, right? — when he saw a brown haired girl — okay, he _thought _he saw a brown haired girl — so he turned to look again. The car was moving fast, so he had to press his face against the window to get a better view.

Brown hair…a familiar bag…the same height…the same _smile _(someone was saying thanks to her as she helped that someone carry his bag)…

So _she's_ already here! He reached for his cell phone and quickly asked her where she was staying. As he waited for her reply, the car zoomed down the road, heading for the Leroy's house.

At last, something to look forward to…!

—X—

"This is the key, have a nice stay."

"Thanks," Hikari replied with a smile as she took the room key from the woman. She was staying at this one very cosy hotel because A) it was cheap and B) it was a great hotel, despite its oh-there's-nothing-special-here appearance. She got into the elevator, and that was when she received a message on her phone. As expected, it was from Takeru. He asked her where she was staying…

_'U knw, that cosy-looking hotel. The one Kumiko said is haunted! XD'_

She sent the message and then thought; _"It must feel weird to see him again…"_

They kept sending messages through their phones — Takeru told her about things at school, and she told him about her English marks — stuffs like that, and Hikari was too lazy to get out of her hotel room. The wedding would start at ten tomorrow, but Takeru said Miss Miyamori had asked them to come to their old classroom at nine. Hikari decided to get out early so that she could have a little tour around the very much-missed Odaiba before getting to the classroom.

She stretched, and yawned noisily on her bed, before falling asleep _(A/N: I told you this isn't a descriptive chapter…)_

—X—

"Takeru. _Takeru_, dear."

The room fell quiet. Takeru snapped out of his thoughts, and realised that everyone was looking at him. He looked back at them with his blue eyes. Mr. And Mrs. Leroy looked at him as if expecting him to give some sort of answer to some sort of question, while his mother had the sweet-but-stern look about her.

He looked away for a brief while, trying to recall what the adults were blabbering about. He met their eyes again once he'd remembered it.

Well. At least he _thought _he remembered it right.

"…It starts at ten," he said. Miss Takaishi smiled a relieved smile. He looked away again, not bothered to hear the conversation any more. He suddenly remembered that day when he'd taken a nap in English class, and was asked to repeat the twenty words the teacher gave for the spelling bee. Lucky for him, he was a person with incredible concentration.

"At ten? Wonderful, wonderful. So, is the wedding only for the teacher's students, or could you bring extra guests?" Mrs. Leroy asked.

"Extra guests are welcomed, I guess," said Takeru quietly as he flipped through the newspaper casually. He wasn't in the right mood to argue. He was tired of it. Even if he did say he didn't want Catherine there, he was sure the adults would somehow make him 'see some sense' — that kind of crap adults always tell you, you know.

He wondered why adults were such difficult beings when once upon a time they used to be carefree children themselves.

"Well, Takeru and I had discussed over this matter—"

_Discussed? _So that was what she called it? _Discussed?_

"—And we both agreed that Catherine could come. You know, today is her birthday, and so tomorrow, Takeru could take her out and all. Besides, Catherine's always been at the hospital."

"Yes, it's boring there," Catherine said in her always-lovely-and-cheerful way. "And I'm actually glad that for once, a friend is taking me out for a day…to a wedding."

The adults beamed at each other. "A friend? Catherine-chan, he's your _fiancé, _not a mere _friend," _Arya said, and then they laughed. Catherine glowed bright pink. Takeru flipped to the next page, his eyes not meeting any of them, his ears refusing to listen to any of their words — his heart refusing to accept any of it.

—X—

She pressed the numbers on her phone and waited. After a while, Taichi picked up.

"Hey, bro. It's me."

"Hiya, O Faithful sister of mine," came Taichi's voice. Hikari could hear Utada Hikaru singing in the background.

"You're alone at home again?"

"Just got back," he said. "Dad and I went to the hospital just now — y'know, visiting mum. Dad's still at the hospital though."

Her brown eyes fell and she stared at the floor. "…How is she?"

"Well…" Taichi paused. "Not good."

"What did the doctor say then? What's wrong with her?" she asked quickly. She'd been worried sick — her mother hadn't been this ill since, like, _ages. _Why now? What was it that made her ill now?

"OK, just be quiet, I'll tell you!" Taichi said. She heard him sighed. "Hika, she's pregnant."

**SQUEAL!**

"SERIOUSLY?"

"SERIOUSLY! Don't shout, OK, I'm not d—"

"FOR THE THIRD TIME! YEAY! I'm gonna be a sister, Taichi!" she said happily. At last! A new _friend, _at least!

"HOLD ON, HIKARI, I'M NOT FINISHED!" Taichi bellowed. She inhaled and exhaled, grinning from ear to ear.

"Okay, fire away!" she said.

"…It's either her or the baby."

A pause.

"Eh?"

"_It's either her or the baby._ She's too old for another one, Hikari."

Her grin fell. "Oh…" She didn't know what else to say.

"The only problem is," Taichi went on, "she wants the baby. Dad said no. She argued back and insisted that she wants to have another one — and dad said no again, and then — you know dad, he loves her so much — and then they began to have a row. It was… It was dreadful…"

She buried her face in one hand, and allowed a few minutes of silence. Taichi seemed to understand, for he, too, did not say anything for a moment. "W-well…say hello to them for me, Taichi."

"Sure thing, O Faithful Sister," said Taichi, and Hikari could imagine his trademark grin plastered on his face.

"Right," she said quietly with a quiet smile. "Bye…"

"Bye — take care, ya?"

"Yeah, I will." With that, she hung up. She sat there for hours, staring at the same fixed point, thinking. Thinking…and thinking… What should she say to make her mother agree not to have the baby? What should she do if she failed in doing so? What should she do if her mother did die after delivering the baby, and how were they going to raise the newborn baby without the mother? What if they succeeded in persuading her mother to not deliver the baby? What happened then? Her parents would probably not look at each other in the eye anymore, or have secret arguments at night when they were asleep…

She was already feeling very down, since she had no true friends at school…and now this?

Hikari only realised what she was doing when her back began to ache horribly. She blinked several times, and looked around. She sighed. She'd been in this state lately — her mind often wandered off elsewhere…away from reality…

She slapped her face twice, and then stood. Enough brooding over these things! She was here for the wedding, and _that_ should be a happy occasion. She'd been looking forward to this since she got the phone call, and now that she's here, she's not going to ruin in. She's going to enjoy herself — in fact, she was going to forget everything, all her troubles, and instead, she's going to meet old friends…

Old friends, who were all very dear to her…namely a blonde boy…

"Takaishi, you Shoe Washer," she said alone with a smile, before grabbing the key to her room and exiting the hotel. She could use a little fresh air, and she'd seen a new park on the way to her hotel.

And since coincidence loved them so much, she might as well meet him there or something.

—X—

Takeru sneezed. This often means that someone's talking about you.

"Did you just catch a cold?" Catherine asked. Takeru sort of rubbed his nose a little, and shook his head as a reply. The girl gave him a smile, and then they kept on walking in silence. Mr. and Mrs. Leroy and Miss Takaishi said Takeru should take Catherine out and around the town. Well, she lived there, yes, but she spent more time in Tokyo — at the _hospital. _So, showing her around was the so-called job for the so-called fiancé…

They were walking along the rows of shops, and Takeru hadn't properly planned where they were going, but like they said, "Just go with the flow". And so he just went on down the street, and Catherine merely followed.

Takeru would like to see what Catherine had to say to get him into talking. Being the quiet (and shy) person he was, he never really was good at conversations. Someone else had to bring up a topic, and then he might — _might — _began talking.

Hikari managed to get him into talking, all right. She tried all sorts of things, and even when he'd showed her all the signs in the world that he did _not _want to be anywhere near friends, she still tried her best to befriend him.

Funny how he could actually fall for the girl whom he used to call a busy body.

"You seem to be in a deep thought," came Catherine's voice.

"I _am _in a deep thought," he said monotonously.

"Mind telling me about it then?" she asked.

One single word for you, then. "No."

"Ooh, _personal, _I see," she said teasingly, and walked a few steps ahead of him. She turned and faced him, but continued the walk (so that right now, when Takeru took a step forward, she took a step backwards, and so on). "C'mon, try me! Maybe I can help?"

"Trust me, you can't," he replied. Catherine stopped her paces and her smile vanished.

"Owh, come _on," _she said, sounding like a little child trying to persuade her mother to buy her more lollipops. Somehow, he thought, only Hikari could persuade him into telling his troubles.

He sighed. "Where d'you want to go first?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Hmm, I dunno. You're supposed to be showing me around, so you decide," said Catherine with her sweet smile. He sighed quietly again, and thought for a moment. Deciding quietly, he began to lead the way.

—X—

"Righto, thanksie sir!" Hikari chirped happily as she paid the money to the man. The new park was definitely cool — she just rented a bike so that she could go cycling around the park. This would surely help her to get things off her mind. She swung one leg over the bike, and then she was off!

The wind blowing in her face felt very cool and relaxing. She closed her eyes and let go of the bike when there was no one around. She stretched her arms and cheered alone: "Hikari Yagami is in Odaiba AGAIN! Whooohooo — whoa—!" She quickly held onto the handlebars again and steered the bike back onto the track. That was close! She laughed quietly alone, and kept paddling.

Children were there with their parents, girls with their guys… And she'd spotted friends hanging around together, making stupid jokes… She was paddling past a huge group of teens ("Sora, you lazy bum! Wake up!" said a red haired girl to a boy who was actually lying asleep on one of the tables there at the park) when suddenly a skater zoomed past her and accidentally hit the left handlebar with an "OOF!". The bike went, of course, off track.

"Ohooaa!" Hikari screamed (and the skater did scream, too) before both of them fell onto the ground — Hikari with the bike on her legs.

"Ouuwwch…"

"Oww…oww, oww…"

The boy slowly moved away from the bike, though he was still unable to sit up. Lucky him, he wore a helmet and all the protection stuff. Hikari heard people running towards them.

"Ohmigodohmigod! Roxas! Are you all right?" came a girl's voice. She was blonde and had very bright skin. She was followed by a spiky haired guy (who was asleep on the table just now), the red haired girl, a silver haired guy, a tall guy and a black haired girl.

"I'm fine — I'm OK," said the boy as he sat up slowly, wincing. "Owh, damn…err, you OK, miss?" he asked as he saw Hikari, who was still lying on the ground. The others kneeled down around her. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't — ohh damn, she's bleeding."

"_You're _bleeding yourself, Roxas," said the spiky haired boy. Slowly, Hikari sat up.

"I'm OK…I guess," she said, Her right elbow was bleeding, and her sleeve was torn a bit.

"What did I tell ya — don't skate around clumsily even when you think you're already so good!" said the tall boy.

"Oh, gee, thanks Hayner," said the skater, Roxas. "Err — now what do we do?"

"I'm quite all right, really," Hikari said, but the red haired girl came closer and examined her elbow.

"This is pretty bad — I'm Kairi, anyway," she said.

"Hey there. I'm Hikari."

"Hurm. Kairi, Hikari. Kairi, Hikari. _Kairi, Hikari…"_

"Shut it, Sora," said the silver haired guy to the spiky haired guy.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay! We should really focus here!" said Hayner, the tall boy. "Roxas, you just hit her so apologise again, dude!"

"Err, I'm _really _sorry," said the skater. Hikari smiled.

"For the last time, I'm fine!" she said.

"Try to stand up," said the blonde girl.

"Ow, ow, ow…ow," Hikari said as she slowly stood up with the hep from Kairi and the blonde girl ("I'm Naminé."). "OK, I'm fine!" she said. The group gave her the "are-you-sure" look. "Really, I'm quite all right. It's just a scratch—"

"A scratch? You call that a scratch?" said the black haired girl.

"Well, I can go back and wash it and everything," she said, picking up her fallen bike. "Really guys, thanks for the concern." Quickly, she got onto the bike and waved goodbye so that they couldn't stop her or anything.

"I'm Olette and he's Riku, anyway!" said the black haired girl, pointing at the silver haired guy and herself. She waved a hand to them, but didn't turn her head to look at them in case someone_else _ran into her.

"Next stop, the pharmacy!" she said to herself and she paddled back to return the rented bike.

—X—

The local pharmacy was PACKED with people! Hikari felt horrible — she hated to wait in lines. She groaned, and searched her pockets, in case she'd brought some band-aids along with her, but nope. She sighed and dropped her shoulders. It's going to be hard to pay for the things she wanted, with these two long lines hardly moving…

She managed to take her mind off that silly matter and then she started to look for the band-aids. She found boxes and boxes of band-aids, lined up on a shelf on the right side of the shop. She took her time studying each of them, looking for the ones with pictures on them. Call her childish, but that's how Hikari was.

She was looking at a box of band-aids with the picture of Sailor Moon on it when suddenly she felt…_something._

No, no one ran into her _again, _and no, no one touched her shoulder or anything… It was one of those feelings when you felt as if someone or _something_ familiar was around. Hikari looked to her right, and then left, behind her and up in front of her (she had to stand on tiptoes in order to look over the shelf), but she saw nothing.

…What was it…?

With the weird feeling still lingering around her, she made her way to the payment counter. The lines were shorter than previously, but she didn't notice that. Hikari lined up behind a girl, still thinking hard about that 'weird feeling'…

…And then her nose picked something up.

She looked up quickly. …But…how could this be…?

The girl lining up in front of her had the exact same scent that _he _used to have. . . . . . . . .

Hikari tried to get a better look of the girl, but imagine how queer it would look like if you tried to look at someone who was lining up in front of you. You'd look like a total lunatic, staring at a stranger like that.

And then everything happened too fast — the pharmacy door swung open, and in came Takeru Takaishi. Both of them seemed to realise each other's presence at the same time, and their eyes met. He no longer bore that cold, unfriendly look. Okay, maybe there was still a bit of that, but nonetheless, he looked a lot better now: he looked like the quietest guy on earth that you could imagine, but not the coldest.

Not _anymore._

And, ah…those blue eyes…how she'd missed those eyes…

Both of them stared at each other — probably surprised, excited, happy, or shocked, or all of the words mentioned — before smiling at each other warmly. It was the nicest smile she had ever seen him give. It was as if only the two of them understood what that smile meant…

Her heart was beating fast, and she didn't exactly know why. She felt quite nervous, like on those days when she and him were nothing but classmates, and those days when she was quietly observing him without knowing exactly _why _she was doing so…

"Is this all, dear?" asked the lady. Hikari snapped out of her thoughts.

"H-huh?"

The lady smiled. "Would this be all?"

"Oh. Haha — yes," she said. The woman began to check the price of it, and Hikari turned to look at Takeru again — and felt horrible once more.

The scent of the girl lining up in front of her _was _Takeru's scent… Hikari guessed the two of them had spent some time together a lot lately, and that would probably explain how Catherine Leroy had Takeru Takaishi's scent as well.

It was like staring at your favourite puppy being held by some other person — or, it was like staring at your favourite puppy, which you _had _to sell it to another person because you're allergic to it, and now that puppy's in the hands of a person that you envied most — and the puppy would never be yours ever again…

Hikari swallowed. Catherine had just hooked her arm with Takeru's, and she didn't seem to realise what her fiancé was staring (sadly) at. She was talking cheerily about something, but Takeru remained the way he was: staring at Hikari. He just stood there, and stared...

...As if he had lost a puppy, and was now seeing it again, but could not have it back because his mother wouldn't let him have it…

Hikari quickly looked away, and paid the lady some money before taking the band-aid. She could feel that horrible sadness inside, and she could feel that horrible, horrible jealousy.

She walked past the two (because they were standing near the entrance) without looking, and decided to stay in bed in her hotel room as the first two drops of tears fell. Why was she feeling so…so torn up inside…? She knew that Takeru was happy to see her, and she was happy to see him, too…and she was sure Catherine meant nothing to him…or…OK, she wasn't that sure…

Hikari had come to Odaiba with the hopes of finding old comfort, old friends…old warmth…since Heiwa offered none of those. She'd been hoping Takeru would be there with her when she told him all about her troubles — all about the things in her mind — and she'd been hoping it'd be just the two of them.

But now, she saw that she couldn't get what she hoped for. Like they always say, "Don't get your hopes high".

Then, suddenly -

"Hikari!"

And that warm hand was holding hers. Surprised, Hikari whirled around. As she did, she met with Takeru's blue eyes once more. She couldn't read his expression though — she was…stunned. Simply stunned.

"Hikari-chan," he greeted with his quiet smile. He really looked happy (but you couldn't tell if you're not close to Takeru like Hikari was). Hikari noticed some slight changes on his face — he looked more 'grown-up'…he simply looked a bit manly, if not, a bit grown-up.

"…U-uh, hey," she replied with a smile of her own. She peered behind Takeru's shoulder and saw that Catherine was still there, watching. "Hello again, Takeru," she said in a friendly manner, and shook Takeru's hand the way people do when they meet friends. Both of them gave each other huge smiles, and there was an awkward moment where Hikari was thinking whether or not she should hug him. She didn't want to, because Catherine was there, but she'd been waiting to see Takeru again ever since she first moved away to Heiwa, so—

She leaned closer and hugged him tightly. "S'nice to see you again…"

She breathed in that familiar scent deeply and tried to remember this moment. When Takeru started to hug her back, she quickly pulled away. Still grinning like an idiot, she felt her face growing hot and red.

"It's nice to see you again, too," he said. They stared into one another's eyes, as if remembering the moments and memories that they'd shared together…and from each other's eyes, both could tell how much they'd missed each other… _(A/N: Each other?)_

Hikari backed away a few steps (still grinning nervously), "Right, so — umm, see you t'morrow. You're coming, right?"

Takeru nodded. Hikari smiled.

"The usual short reply, huh," she said, and Takeru laughed a little. The shade of pink started to colour his cheeks — the fascinating sight, the sight that Hikari hadn't seen for a long time…

…She missed him so much . . . . .

She raised a hand and waved weakly, though still smiling. She then turned her back on him, and started to walk away when she clumsily hit a lady.

"Ooh — I — I'm sorry…so sorry," she said, bowing repeatedly. She gave a last nervous smile at Takeru before speeding away out of sight. Her sadness just now disappeared almost completely — Takeru! There! In front of her! And they hugged…! She cheered up a lot after that, because now she was sure that Takeru missed her too. And probably he and Catherine had not yet shared that close relationship…and maybe, _maybe, _she still had a chance to…

She halted. The usual bookstore was no longer there. Instead, there was a gift shop. Through the huge glass window, she could see a lovely doll dressed up in a bridal gown. Beside that doll was another doll, the groom. She smiled and stepped closer towards the glass.

Thinking about how great the weather was, she entered and purchased both dolls.

—X—

Catherine eyed her fiancé. He'd been silent, talking only occasionally. She couldn't read what he was thinking at all — but clearly he was pleased to meet _that girl _again. But everything happened as if by coincident: Catherine was the one who dragged Takeru to the pharmacy to buy some things. She certainly didn't expect to see Hikari Yagami there...

"Takeru?"

The other raised his eyebrows a little, showing that he heard her. Catherine looked at him: was he still thinking about Hikari…? Obviously he was… Or was he being the usual quiet person?

"What?" Takeru asked suddenly. She looked, and saw that he was eyeing her, waiting for her to say something.

"…Nothing," Catherine said. "Nothing!" she repeated, smiling cheerfully. Takeru sort of nodded, and then he continued to lead the way slowly. The way he looked at Hikari Yagami just now…he seemed…_happy._ Sure, she'd seen him smile in several (rare) occasions, but she'd never, _ever _seen him smile the way he did just now…

Who was Hikari Yagami, what was her role in _her _fiancé's life, and why was she so important? Catherine thought, once Takeru was engaged to her, and once Hikari Yagami moved out of Odaiba (Arya onesan kept her updated with the latest news), the two of them would have nothing to do with each other anymore. They'd been apart for almost _a year _now… But their relationship didn't change at all…

"Happy birthday then," Takeru said once they've reached the house. Catherine tried to smile sweetly, but failed. Miss Takaishi had gone back home, and so Takeru had to walk back home.

"Thank you for everything," Catherine said. Takeru merely nodded. She turned around to enter, but then—

"Wait a sec."

She turned. He stretched out a hand. She raised her eyebrows quizzically. He was holding a small wrapped box.

"What's this?" she asked as she took it from him.

"A birthday present, obviously," he replied monotonously. His face showed no expressions whatsoever. He then turned to leave. Catherine watched his tall, graceful figure getting smaller and smaller. _He was a hard person to guess…_

She unwrapped the present. It was a pair of earrings.

—X—

A girl was seen walking in slow paces around Odaiba early next day. She had a mild smile plastered on her face all the time, and occasionally her smile would widen as she looked at buildings or places that she knew. She was holding a small plastic bag, which contained a neatly wrapped present.

Hikari Yagami was slowly advancing towards her old school, sipping the fresh morning air and smiling a beautiful happy smile. No one would've thought that she actually had a lot of problems in her life right now — her mother, her school life, her love life — because at one glance, everyone would think that she was just another normal girl taking a walk around the neighbourhood.

Hikari halted as she arrived right in front of the gates. She smiled at the sight of the familiar building — she still remembered how excited she was when she first stepped foot into that school. And here at the front gates, this very spot, was where she used to wait for Taichi before walking back home. This was also where she used to wait for Takeru to show up if ever he skipped classes (and then walk back home together), or where _he _would wait for her if she had to go and have final chats with her girlfriends before going back home.

"To school! To school!" she said alone, stepping inside. The school was empty, of course, because it was Saturday, but there were several students there (they came to school to finish up their projects or to do some practice on their basketball skills). The quietness really brought peace to her mind as she enjoyed the scenery there, remembering the old days…

She halted when she saw the school gardens. When she saw two rakes leaning against a tree, she grinned alone. This was where she had her detention with Takeru — they had to sweep the dried leaves and then burn them…

Hikari slowly walked towards the gardens, trying to remember that tune Takeru had sang while they were doing their chores… It was an English song… Something like…

Slowly, she tried to hum the song. Yes. It sounded right…

_"I get high when I see you go by…my, oh my…"_

She felt very safe, being there in Odaiba… As she stared at the scenery, she could almost see two teenagers sweeping the dried leaves after school — one with incredibly beautiful blue eyes and the other with chocolate ones…

And she also saw two teenagers, shouting at each other in the rain, there at the same spot.

Hikari sighed. After a while, she smiled again, and began to walk towards the school building. Still smiling ever so beautifully, she entered, and made her way towards her old class.

—X—

Takeru stopped, and turned. He heard noises, as if someone was climbing the stairs. He listened again, but there was nothing. He decided to shrug the thought off his mind, and so he continued his journey towards his old classroom.

The Leroy sisters went elsewhere a moment ago — Arya said something about giving Catherine a tour around the school…and he was OK with that. In fact, it was better if they weren't with him. He wanted to be alone since yesterday, anyway.

His legs automatically took a left turn as he arrived at a corridor. He remembered back then when he used to study here, he was always the first one to arrive. He'd have to open all the windows before he could finally sit down. He'd mind his own business — music was on, the book was there — until Hikari came and pulled out his earphone to yell "O— ha—yo—!"

He chuckled slightly to that memory. Taking a deep breath, Takeru opened the classroom door, and entered (and he had to open all the windows before he could _finally _sit down!).

—X—

Hikari took her time to catch her breath. The climbing! Phew, it was simply 'breath taking'…honestly. She walked along the corridors, and then turned left. She smiled widely as she saw two flowerpots (the same ones!) standing outside a class. She walked towards that class, and beamed at the flower pots _(A/N: I'd call her crazy if ever I was there to see her smiling at two **flower pots…**). _Instantly, an image of Takeru watering the plants came into her mind.

"Shoe Washer…" she mumbled alone, shaking her head. With a last glance towards the flowerpots, she entered the class.

There was no one there. The black board was clean, and the desks were arranged neatly. The windows were wide open, letting the sunlight to invade the medium-sized room. She scanned that place — nothing had changed…if something _had _changed, she wouldn't notice it for it was simply a minor change.

It was hard to describe how Hikari felt after that. She felt as if she was really home, that she was safe, in this familiar classroom, in this familiar town… If I were to describe it, it'd be like this: imagine how a son would feel when he could suddenly go time-travelling and see his deceased mother again — see her smiling at the usual front gardens where she used to water all her flowers and plants… It was like getting back what he missed most…

_(A/N: Go check chapter one!)_

…There was no one there except for a blonde boy at the back of the class. He had his eyes shut and was leaning against the chair at ease, clearly asleep. His headphones pressed firmly against his ears, and in an instant, Hikari knew that he was…

…It was like getting back what she missed most…

Hikari took a chalk near the blackboard. She looked at the chalk, and then at the boy sitting at the back of the class. She aimed, and threw the white object with all her might towards the boy. She didn't expect the chalk to hit him (since her aim was bad), but it did, right on the head.

The blonde boy opened his eyes slowly, frowning. Hikari saw his pair of amazingly beautiful blue eyes…

She folded her arms. "Takaishi," she said, remembering what Miss Miyamori had said back then when she'd first came to Odaiba. "Had a nice dream?"

Takeru showed no expression. He then sat up straight, before removing his headphones. "Absolutely."

She smiled a little. "Takaishi, I want you to bring a desk and a chair for our new Miss Yagami. There are a few in the unused classrooms, go!"

The boy stood up quietly, and walked to the front. Both of them were smiling now. Takeru stood there in front of her, his arms folded.

"Well, Miss Hikari Yagami," he said, stepping closer, "I _did_ bring your desk and chair a year ago," Takeru said, wrapping his arms around her small body. She hugged back. The familiar scent lingered in the air, and again, she felt very safe…

"And you, Mr. Takeru Takaishi, you called me the Queen of Desks and Chairs _and _Lunch-Disturbers," Hikari said. Takeru laughed quietly. There was silence for a while, where all her troubles at home came back into her mind. She wanted so much to tell someone how she'd been feeling lately… But telling Takeru about it would only make him worry about her more… And she didn't want that.

They parted, and he stared into her eyes. He somehow looked worried. "You OK?"

She nodded. "I'm fine," she lied. Takeru observed her eyes for a moment, and then raised a hand to gently touch her face. "And you?"

"Depressed," came the usual short and honest answer. Hikari could feel his warm breath against her face…

"Well…I am a bit depressed as well," she said in a low voice. _You liar, _said a voice inside her head. _You're **very **depressed._

"Why so…?" Takeru asked, also in a low voice. She had to lean closer to hear him.

"Because you're not there with me…" she said. Their eyes still locked with each other's, she asked, "And you…?"

Closer. Warmer…

"…Because you're not _here_ with me," he replied in a whisper. He began to lean in, and she closed her eyes… And then…

**BAM!**

"**HIKARI-CHAAAAN!"**

And in came Daisuke! Hikari, who had looked quickly when the door suddenly burst open, smiled at her ex-classmate, and then looked back at Takeru. He had this "I'm-_so_-gonna-kill-you-for-interrupting-our-private-moment-you-Durian-Head" look about his face, and this made her laughed. Takeru glared at her.

"What?" he snapped. A year back, he would've sounded colder as he said this, but not anymore.

"You're so cute," she said, "and funny." Before Takeru could argue back, Hikari quickly pecked him on the cheek before turning to meet Daisuke, Kumiko (who was behind Daisuke, and brought three of her younger siblings along), Miharu, Harukichi, Arisa, Michiyo and several other students (they seemed to have planned their journey to the classroom together). They talked excitedly to one another, squealing the way girls do whenever they are happy. So Miharu had finally got a boyfriend (Yamashita Naoki! _(A/N: There you go, Harukichi. THAT's 'his' name. Okay, carry on, people, there's nothing fascinating here...!)_), and their ex-English teacher actually got married at the age of 56.

"So you _came, _huh Goldie Locks?" Daisuke said loudly to Takeru, who was sitting at the back of the class once more.

"Grow up, Durian Head."

"Vinegar Drinker!"

"Soccer Loser."

"Princess Aurora from Disney's Sleeping Beauty!"

"Kerchak in Disney's Tarzan!"

"Jerk!"

"Loser!"

"Idiotic idiot!"

"You smell!"

"Then you smell ten times worse than I do!"

"A total numbskull who doesn't know how to spell mitochondria!"

"HAH! As if _you _do!"

"I do know how to spell it — M, I, T, O, C, H, O, N, D, R, I, A — mitochondria!"

Hikari laughed along with the others. A year ago, if Daisuke said anything, Takeru would simply smirk in an unpleasant way before returning to his book — but now, he'd fight back and would try to give as many insults as he could.

He'd changed a lot. And _she, _Hikari, was the one who changed him.

And that was something she could be proud of.

"And may I ask _what _exactly is mitochondria?" Daisuke asked heatedly. Takeru folded his arms and answered coolly:

"Where _have _you been during Biology class?"

"Well look here! YOU were the one who skipped Biology classes and you're asking ME where I'VE BEEN?" Daisuke snapped furiously. Hikari gave Takeru the "are-you-kidding?" look.

"You _still _skip classes?" she asked, surprised — but she was smiling at how funny the two 'archenemies' looked and sounded like at the moment.

"Then shame on you, you were in the class but you're as clueless as a three-year-old," Takeru replied, ignoring Hikari's question.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK OR I'LL—!"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Kumiko said, stepping in between the two boys. Hikari did the same. "Miss Miyamori will NOT want a fight during her wedding day!"

Hikari laughed. "Yeah, hello Daisuke, I missed you, too," she said.

"You do?" Daisuke asked, sounding very cheerful all of a sudden. Takeru gave Daisuke a death glare and mumbled something that sounded like a curse. Hikari laughed again, and again and again with the others as they recalled several old events. Hikari sat at her old desk beside Takeru, and her classmates pulled their chairs close to one another's and sat there, talking and gossiping while they wait for Miss Miyamori (none of them knew where the wedding was going to be held).

I am sorry to say that their blissful moment was interrupted when the classroom door swung open. Two girls stood at the doorway: Arya Leroy and Catherine Leroy. The whole class fell quiet and stared. Arya smiled to the class.

"Enjoy yourself, kay?" she said to Catherine, and Catherine nodded. Before she turned to leave, Arya looked at Hikari, and she looked back. Honestly, she didn't fear Arya-senpai anymore. If _she _thought Hikari Yagami was going to back away, she's wrong.

The class was still quiet. Catherine spotted Takeru and waved cheerily. Takeru didn't respond.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Daisuke said suddenly, turning his back on Catherine as if she didn't exist at all, "there was no other senpai who's as good as Taichi-san! Speaking of Taichi-san, where _is _he? Why isn't he here?"

Hikari was glad Daisuke opened a new topic. "He's at home, in love with the PS2. He's replaying _Radiata Stories, _and eh actually managed to finish it in twenty-four hours' time! He's starting a new game. _Again!"_

Catherine pulled a chair and sat near them. "Hey, you guys."

"Hey. Fujiwara Kumiko desu."

"Hi, Miharu's the name."

"Hello again," said Hikari, smiling.

"Hiya, I'm Daisuke." Less hyper…why?

A pause.

"So, anyway Hikari-chan! What didja get for Miss Miyamori? Eh? Eh?" Kumiko asked, totally ignoring Catherine. Hikari smiled. Were they thinking what she was thinking?

"I bought her a pair of lovely dolls!" Hikari said happily, pulling out a neatly wrapped present.

"I bought one, too," Catherine said with a smile, lifting up the present she brought. "Takeru didn't talk too much about Miss Miyamori, so I didn't know what to buy."

"Oh, just buy her anything decent," Kumiko said, smiling sweetly (which happened to be an odd sight). Kumiko looked at Hikari, and then at Daisuke, and then at Miharu, and lastly at Takeru. Then, all of them eyed Catherine.

_Okay, my classmates ARE up to something mischievous!_

"So…Catherine," Kumiko began, leaning forwards as if she was really interested with her, "you're Arya-senpai's sister, but how come you're not schooling here?"

"Well," said Catherine, giving her usual sweet smile, "because I often go to Tokyo for checkups and sometimes the doctors insisted that I have to stay a few days there."

"Owh, what _kind _of disease do you have?" Miharu asked, lifting her eyebrows.

"_Cough—cough_—I'm-a-sweet-girl—_ehhem_, _cough, cough_—please-like-me—_cough, cough, ehhem_—disease," Hikari heard Daisuke said. She tried to hold back laughter while everyone else smirked and grinned like idiots— Takeru included. Catherine still didn't drop the effort of trying to look sweet and innocent though.

"I have thalassaemia major," she said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"What did you just call me?" Daisuke said suddenly. Hikari couldn't help it — she laughed, but hastily turned it into a cough. "No, no, no — I'm _Daisuke. Dai, su, ke, Mo, to, mi, ya! _Daisuke Motomiya!"

"You silly," said Kumiko, "she said she _has _a disease called — what was it again?"

"Thalassaemia major," Catherine repeated through clenched teeth.

"Yes, _that — _and she's not _calling _you — what was it again, Catherine-san?"

"_Thalassaemia. Major."_

"Yes, yes — _that."_

Daisuke gave an 'oh'. "Okay. I see. Hey, Catherine! I know what! What say you if we go and introduce you to the whole class?" Daisuke said, suddenly standing up. Kumiko hastily stood too.

"Yeah! That'll be great!" she said. "Class! Attention please!"

Catherine quickly looked at Takeru, as if she wasn't willing to leave his side (and as if she was asking him to help her get away from Daisuke and Kumiko), but Kumiko was already dragging her to the front of the class. Hikari smiled at Catherine as she looked again at Takeru, her eyes pleading for help.

"You'll do fine, Catherine-san, the class is very friendly to newcomers," Hikari said. Well, the class was friendly to her when she first came. Hikari then turned to look at Takeru. "You _do _know what Daisuke and Kumiko are up to, don't you?"

Takeru smiled his usual small smile, but she knew he was into it too. "Yeah, I do."

Hikari lifted her eyebrows. "They're gonna _bully _her, Takeru — go and help your fiancé!"

Takeru pulled a thinking face. "Well…she said so herself that she wanted to 'know more about me and my friends', so there you go." Hikari beamed, and Takeru beamed back. Kumiko and the others sat back at their seats, leaving Catherine in front of the class.

"Go on! Introduce yourself, Catherine-san!" Daisuke said, clapping. The whole class followed. Catherine looked a bit pleased, and she began with her name. Daisuke then turned his back against Catherine (facing Takeru and Hikari), and grinned. "Took care of her."

Kumiko, who was smiling, spoke (barely opening her mouth), "If she wants the spotlight, we'll _give _her the spotlight…"

Miharu then started a new conversation, totally ignoring Catherine at the front. "So," she said in a business-like voice, "you two still going strong?"

Both of them smiled at each other.

"That's a yes."

"Aww, man!" Daisuke said. "So you two are _really, really _together?"

Hikari and Takeru quietly held hands under the desk. "Yeah, Daisuke. Really, really together," Hikari replied, smiling at Takeru, who remained expressionless, but his eyes were…_smiling. (A/N: This is what you'll get for reading too much about Fang in Maximum Ride…)_

At last, at long last, she was with her Takeru again… While the player struts and frets her hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more.

It's so nice to see the whole class bullying her. (Insert an innocent, sweet smiling face here).

* * *

**A/N: **Uh… I'm sorry. For what? Uhm…I'm a bit clueless right now…err. Right. Until next time ya. (Scratches head, frowning in a confused way).

**ANOTEHR A/N:** PLEASE READ THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE MAKE MY DAY! I'M SO SAD RIGHT NOW! I HATE 2007! AND THAT'S A CURSE! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGGH...(explodes and is heard of no more)...


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: **Do not own…_Love Parade _belongs to ORANGE RANGE...

**A/N: **Twentieth chapter. Did I took too long to update?

* * *

20. Uh-Oh, Evil Miss Catherine WON'T GIVE UP!

The sight of Takeru Takaishi staring out the window brought back many memories to Hikari: she was so used to seeing the blonde doing this a year before, but now; she'd noticed that she actually _missed_ seeing Takeru staring out the window. He was doing just that at the moment, his hand still holding hers protectively. She tried to look out the window too, but saw nothing interesting.

"What _do _you stare at each time you stare out the window?" she asked, breaking the silence between them. No, it wasn't an unnatural or a disturbing silence. They were both perfectly fine with the silence. In fact, Hikari was enjoying it for some reason.

"Hmm…birds…clouds…the leaves…_things…"_

"Yeah, right. The Madman Takaishi — never try to understand him," Hikari joked as their classmates began 'arguing' over whether or not Catherine's eyebrows looked like Arya's — which didn't really matter much, to be honest.

Takeru smiled at her joke. Hikari peered around the desk and saw…

"Hey, why are you bringing two presents?" she asked, bending down a little to look inside Takeru's bag on the floor. He looked at it too, but calmly pushed it out of sight using his leg after that.

"Oh, it's nothing," he said casually. Hikari eyed him curiously.

"Aww, come on!" she pleaded, looking around, trying to catch a glimpse of his bag again. "You're keeping something away from me!"

"No, I'm not."

"Oh yes, you are!" she insisted and tried once more to look at the back. Takeru sat up straighter and this at once blocked her view of the bag (with Takeru being the tall, slender and athletic person he was). She glared at him playfully; her eyes narrowed, and said, "What's the other present?"

"Oh, I'm telling you about it now, am I?"

Hikari eyed him for a while before lifting her head high in the air. "Fine, Takaishi!" she said bossily, flipping her hair a bit. Takeru chuckled at her behaviour.

Their anxiousness finally ended when (surprise, surprise!) Mr. Shao Seimaru, their ex history teacher, entered the class. He was dressed up very neatly. "Morning, class!"

"Good morning, Mr. Seimaru!" those who knew him chorused happily, glad to see their know-it-all-yet-kind teacher again. He was one of those people whom you have this unexplainable affection for.

Mr. Seimaru clapped his hands together and rubbed them. "Right! We're going to Miss Miyamori's wedding now."

"What? By foot?" Daisuke asked, dumbfounded, and he dropped the attempt to argue with Kumiko about Catherine's eyebrows.

Mr. Seimaru smiled. "No, Mr. Motomiya, not by foot! By bus — Akuseru (pronounce Ak'seru) the Bus Driver is willing to give us a lift to Miss Miyamori's wedding. Come now, all of you — out the class!"

And so, the whole class walked together out of the building, chatting to one another brightly.

"Gee, Miss Miyamori's kinda lucky, ne? I mean, having a bus for her students to get to her wedding and all," Hikari said, and Takeru nodded thoughtfully. He was guarding his bag (with the presents in it) with his life, so she couldn't just grab it and run or anything. She kept on stealing glances at the bag, but gave up when Takeru showed no signs of telling her what was inside.

He suddenly smiled one of his little smiles.

"What?"

He smiled wider.

"Don't _smirk _at me!" she said.

"I'm not smirking…!"

"Yes, you are," she argued back. "What's so funny?"

"Your face!" he said quietly. "You really wanna know what's inside? The other present?"

"Yes!"

"Well, you'll find out soon," he said.

She opened her mouth to ask again, but Catherine had returned to Takeru and was giving him sweet smiles and all (and it gave Hikari this urge to kill her right there and then), so Hikari walked along with her friends instead. Takeru's blue eyes met hers, and through unspoken language, she'd threaten to kill him if he didn't tell her what the other present was and who it was for.

But he merely smiled back.

"So, Mr. Seimaru…who's the groom, anyway?" Hikari asked as she decided it was time for her to drop it, and also as she realised that she had no idea to whom Miss Miyamori was going to get married.

"My eldest brother, Shuichi Seimaru."

"WHAT?"

"_What? _Didn't you know? Didn't you _look _at the invitation card at all?"

"Well, I didn't get the card — Takaishi told me through the phone," Hikari said, and turned to shoot Takeru a glare. The blonde merely shrugged, lifting his hands to signal puzzlement.

"Well, now you know," said Mr. Seimaru.

Akseru the Bus Driver had green eyes and red hair, and I mean it — really red _like fire. _He was also dressed up, ready for a wedding.

"The name's Ak'seru! Got it memorised?" he asked as he opened the door of the bus, letting them inside. Hikari went for the back seat along with the girls, since Catherine had dragged Takeru to sit elsewhere. The blonde managed a glance towards her, and she smiled. Again, through an unspoken language, he seemed to understand that the smile meant, "Don't worry, I'll be fine." He smiled a bit before sitting down. From her seat, the least she could see was Takeru's tall blonde head.

The location of the wedding ceremony remained a secret, but when the bus took a familiar road (and mind you, Ak'seru was driving recklessly — as in, "WAHOOO! SPEED, THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, BEBEH!"), many of them could already guess: the wedding was held at the famous _(A/N: Yet imaginary) _Venus Garden. Venus Garden, of course, had nothing to do with Venus. It was a very nice garden, and the entrance fee was so damn mahal ('mahal' means expensive in my language), and only people with money often come there. That was why it was nicknamed 'The Rich People's Garden'.

They all got off the bus, chatting brightly and craning their necks to look around the luxurious place. A man directed them to garden number one, and garden number one had indeed been decorated and was a perfect place for a wedding.

Hikari was walking towards Kumiko when suddenly Catherine caught up with her.

"This is a nice place, isn't it?" she said, looking around, smiling. Hikari smiled one of her own smiles.

"Yup, you can say that again," she said, raising her camera and taking a picture of the entrance of the garden.

"How come Takeru never said anything about this place?" she asked again.

"Well, one thing's certain: it's very expensive to get here and even though he has money, being who he is, I doubt that he'll ever bother taking anyone here," Hikari said casually, raising her camera once more and focusing on the wedding sets. She then looked at Catherine in the eye. "And another thing is, _he is Takeru — _you don't expect him to talk to you all the time, do you?"

She had said this in a tone of voice that said, "are you quite _sure _you're Takeru's fiancé?" With that, she walked away to take a picture of the fountain nearby, leaving Catherine feeling quite — well — stupid.

Hikari was observing the fountain and the way the water trickled out of the angel statue's mouth when someone suddenly sang something. She didn't seem to notice that Takeru was next to her.

"…Kimi no hitomi wo miru tabi fushigi na kimochi ni natteku…"

She gave him an "oh, _really?" _look and his blue eyes seemed to be replying, "yeah, really."

"And just exactly _what _is that funny feeling, may I ask?" she asked. He tilted his face a bit, observing the fountain too.

"Yasashikattari…setsunakattari… Like I'm enveloped in a distant, faraway galaxy… It feels good so…"

He turned to look at her.

"I wanna gaze at you forever."

Hikari smiled at him. "You sweet little thing. So what's the other present?"

"Just because I sang to you it doesn't mean I'm gonna tell you what the other present is."

"Aww, come on! Please?"

"No."

"Please? Please, please, please?"

"No."

Hikari made a face. "Well, you Shoe Washer…"

"That's it, isn't it? You won't be calling me a Shoe Washer anymore after this, mark my words."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Why's that?"

He suddenly (and cheekily) kissed her on the cheek and said, "Dance with me after this?"

Hikari chased him around the gardens after that, face red, and yelled about him being a cheesy pervert.

—X—

Catherine stood there and watched as Hikari Yagami chased Takeru around the garden, and she observed her fiancé's happy expression — the way he smiled, the way he dodged each blows from the other person, the way he laughed and the way he said, "I'm not going to tell you!" again and again. Yes, she had NEVER, EVER seen Takeru like this. The one she knew was silent, unsmiling, cold and even statue-like. But this one — _this one, _just exactly where did this Takeru come from?

"I wouldn't mess with them if I were you," came a voice from behind and she spun around, surprised. There stood one of Takeru's friends, the one with spiky hair. "I mean — hey, they're happy. Leave them alone and you'll be happy too."

Giving her no chance to respond, the guy simply walked away to annoy Takeru's other friend, Kumiko.

_Leave them alone and you'll be happy too…?_ No. She didn't think so. What did that annoying spiky haired dude know to say such a thing, anyway? No. Catherine couldn't just forget about it — she was there first. She was there first…

She still remembered the awkward silence between them in the play room five years ago. That was when they first met. He was wearing a green sweater and a pair of baggy jeans, and was staring at her as if he had never seen a girl before. She, on the other hand, was too shy to speak — having to friends and all, of course she felt like that, especially when he was giving her a cold stare like that.

"_Umm — hi," she began. Ten-year-old Takeru observed her for a while before turning away to stare out the window instead. He completely ignored her… "M-my name's Catherine, Catherine—"_

"_Leroy. I know, mum's told me," he cut across her._

"_And you're Takeru Takaishi, right?"_

_He didn't reply, though Catherine thought she saw him nod a bit. A few minutes went on, and then he turned to look at her again. She began to feel a bit uncomfortable, but she was also keen to get to know Takeru — maybe because she had no other friends before, and maybe because she had already felt that attraction towards him…_

"_You are very pale," he said suddenly in a monotonous voice. She felt her face go red._

"_Emm — y-yes I guess I…am pale…"_

_And then the door swung opened and they heard laughter from both mothers as they entered — Catherine's was carrying a tray with food on it and Takeru's was simply smiling and laughing at the jokes. After that, Takeru had not say a word to her again for that day, and she had silently liked him since then._

"Catherine? Catherine!"

She looked up at the sound of her name, and found Kumiko and Miharu staring at her. She noticed that almost everyone had taken their seats.

"Come on and sit down," Miharu said, waving at her. She looked about and saw that Hikari was sitting next to these two girls, and she also saw that Takeru had saved her a seat. He, too, was looking at her, but she could not see any expressions on his face.

She smiled at him, but as usual, he did not smile back. Catherine then made her way towards Takeru, and in her head, there was only one sentence:

"I am not giving up...no way!"

* * *

**A/N: **Is it short? Sorry if it is.


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…

**A/N: **Twenty-first chapter. Thanks for still being with me…! X3

* * *

21. After the Wedding

Everyone was seated. Everyone was present. Everyone was ready. Everyone was waiting. The groom, Shuichi Seimaru, was a graceful man and he looked quite a lot like Mr. Seimaru. Mr. Seimaru had six other siblings — five brothers and a sister. All of them owned this certain grace — a gracefulness that ran in the blood, more like. And Shuichi Seimaru definitely looked like he could make their ex-class teacher happy.

Speaking of their ex-class teacher, Miss Hana Miyamori — about-to-be Mrs. Hana Seimaru soon — was very beautiful herself. When she came out, everyone was sort of stunned — her dark, wavy brown hair was decorated with this and that, and the veil that fell over her face added an elegant look that only a bride could achieve. She walked slowly, escorted by her father, towards Shuichi Seimaru, her eyes fixed onto the ground and a soft smile was playing on her lips.

Hikari, of course, had all these recorded.

She finally reached the man she had chosen to be with, and there, they stood, waiting for that moment — that moment where they would finally be man and wife…

Hikari heard a sob, and turned to look behind her, where Daisuke sat with his eyes watering. Hikari grinned, and made sure she had that recorded. Kumiko's younger siblings seemed to be petrified by that beautiful moment — their young eyes were fixed at the happy couple and their mouths hung open a bit.

She moved her attention to the benches on the other side of the garden, when Takeru was. He had his eyes fixed on the couple too, but he was in his Expressionless Mode, so it was hard to tell what he was feeling of thinking at the moment. Hikari zoomed on the blonde's face and recorded that moment for a few minutes.

Then suddenly, his eyes turned to meet the screen of her digital camera. Both of them were surprised — perhaps he, Takeru, felt as if someone was watching him and was surprised to find that he was correct, and she, Hikari, had not expected the blonde to feel any connections was surprised to find that he _did _feel something.

The sides of his mouth sort of moved into a small smile, and she waved a bit, and then both of them turned their attention to the wedding scene…

"…I now pronounce you man and wife…"

_(A/N: Lazy author. X3)_

And everyone clapped and cheered. Akseru the Bus Driver went into berserk mode and threw flowers all over people's head, yelling, "Say No To Xemnas! Say No To Xemnas! YEAAAH!"

Even though no one obviously knew who Xemnas was, everyone cheered along with him. Everyone stood and the girls and ladies sort of shoved each other to be in the front line to wait for Mrs. Hana Seimaru to throw her bouquet of flowers. Hikari stood away from the shoving crowd to record this happy (and wacky — thanks to Akseru) moment. She watched as Miharu playfully shoved one of Kumiko's little sister, just to make the little girl much more determined to get the bouquet of flowers. Both Takeru and Daisuke were on tiptoes, their long hands raised into the air, holding their very own cameras over the people's head to try to take a few photos.

Hikari focused onto Mrs. Seimaru's hand in the air, and was ready to follow it wherever it went, only to have covered her head and ducked with her eyes tightly shut as that bouquet of flowers zoomed right towards her. It hit her head softly.

Someone at the back caught it — one of Mrs. Seimaru's friends — and people cheered and that lady blushed, but looked pleased all the same.

And then the guests were led to another garden, where tables were set and there was space for the new married couple to dance and such. There was even a band there, too. The band began to play and everyone was invited to eat. Miharu Kumiko and Harukichi conquered one huge table and placed all their things there to indicate that the table was 'taken', and then they ran off to congratulate their teacher. Hikari joined them.

Mrs. Seimaru looked very happy to see that almost all of her senior students had managed to turn up. They piled up their presents on a huge table.

"Miss Yagami, you're here too!" Mrs. Seimaru said happily.

"Yeah, she managed to come, Miss Miyamo — I mean—" Kumiko grinned and everyone laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I meant _Mrs. Seimaru _of course!"

"So how're things over there, Hikari?" the teacher asked.

"Very fine, thanks," she lied, and then said, "hey everyone! Strike a pose, come on, I'll take a picture or two!"

All her friends neatly arranged themselves around the married couple, and Hikari was ready to take a picture when Mrs. Seimaru suddenly waved at someone and said:

"Takaishi! Takaishi, come! You too, Motomiya!"

Daisuke hopped along and stood next to Kumiko, while Takeru, who was just about to place his present on the huge table, looked uncertain of what to do.

"Err — no thanks, I'll just…" He trailed off, pointing uncertainly at the buffet table and made an attempt to go away, but everyone there waved their hands and said, "Oh, come _on, _Takeru!"

When he said 'no thanks' again, Hikari rolled her eyes and went to drag him towards the others. "Come on, it's not like I'll be able to see you again after this!" she said, and Takeru gave her a look that said, "What was _that _supposed to mean?" Hikari dismissed that look by forcing him to stand near Miharu.

"Okay, pose for the camera now…!" she said. "One, two, three — say cheese!"

Snap! Perfect…

"Yoohoo — come, come, let _me _do the honour of snapping the next picture!" said Akseru the Bus Driver (there was a sakura petal tangled in his wild red hair, and he looked as if he were 'drunk'), waving at Hikari. "Come, the camera…that's it… Now go, go, shoo — I'm taking this picture!"

Hikari repaired her hair a bit and stood next to Takeru…

…Who placed his arm around her shoulder.

"Right! Smiiile, people! Say 'Saïx'!"

"_Saïx (whatever that is)!" _they said, and Akseru took a picture of them.

"Perfect! Now where's the food?"

People laughed at this, but joined him to eat all the same. They lined up, chatting again, for there was indeed a lot of things to chat about, and chose their food before returning to their seats, eating, and chatting yet again, as the band switched from the 'grand music band' to a rock band. The dude with the sitar (who looked like a broomstick, in Hikari's opinion — the hair, the _hair)_ was the one who made things fascinating. He even danced with Mrs. Seimaru while playing his sitar, and Shuichi Seimaru merely laughed as the dude apologised for 'stealing' the bride and hoped that Shuichi wouldn't kill him in his sleep.

Takeru had joined in their table, and he had hesitantly invited Catherine along. The pale girl — who smiled less often ever since the bus ride — quickly accepted that invitation, although she kept quiet while the others joked about old times.

"…And then that one part when you guys had to be in one group for history!" Mr. Shao Seimaru was saying (he went from table to table to chat with students and had reached theirs) to Hikari, Takeru, Daisuke and Kumiko. "Actually I wanted to see how Takeru would cooperate with you, Hikari."

"Ehh? What? Why set us up?" Hikari asked, surprised.

"Well, because you needed to fit in, and _you _needed friends!" Mr. Seimaru said, and people grinned.

"And I did fit in," said Hikari.

"And I made friends," said Takeru.

"And we fought!" said Daisuke. "Like, a LOT!"

"And _you _always lose," said Kumiko.

"Hey!"

"Well, it's _true…"_

When the band started to play ORANGE RANGE'S _Onegai Seniorita, _Kumiko dragged Daisuke to dance, and Hikari laughed as her two friends joined the crowd in a wacky dance that had no specific name. Everyone was swaying this way and that, and it made things looked a lot happier.

Hikari then stood up, and looking directly into Catherine's eyes, she asked, "You don't mind, do you?" Without waiting for her reply, she took Takeru's hand and gently pulled him onto his feet. "C'mon, you offered me to dance with you earlier on, right?"

Takeru smiled — a wide smile — and nodded, "Yeah."

There was this huge satisfied feeling. _Serves her right!_

When they reached the dancing spot, they held each other's hands and looked around before looking at each other.

"Well, uh, what do we do now?" Hikari asked loudly over the music and the cheers from the dancing couples and the guests watching.

"I don't know!" Takeru replied, grinning as he saw Daisuke twirled Kumiko before continuing their wacky dance. "Let's just dance!" he suggested.

"Okay, sounds good!"

They, too, began to dance in a wacky, wacky way, and then began to realise that none of these couples actually knew which dance to perform. Takeru had randomly twirled her for a few times, and they had switched partners for a couple of times before switching back.

The sight of a smiling Takeru Takaishi…was simply…

…Fascinating…

When the song ended, the loudest cheer erupted and everyone clapped. They went to get drinks after that (cheering along with the crowd and dancing a crazy, unknown dance sure did make her thirsty) and sat on a nearby bench. Both of them had forgotten Catherine completely.

"That was fun — we should do that often in the future," Takeru said before drinking his fruit juice.

"Yeah…but when?" Hikari asked, trying to sound casual but knew that she had failed to do so.

"When we managed to run to Spain and get engaged there," Takeru joked. But when she said nothing, he observed her unsmiling face as she drank from her glass, and sat closer to her. "Hey…you know we'll meet again after this…right?"

She didn't lift her face, nor did she reply. Takeru watched her quietly, observing the expression she had on her face and quietly tried to interpret them. Before he could say anything, the second song started, and couples got onto their feet and walked towards the dancing spot.

"You know," said Takeru, "I always love Utada Hikaru…"

The band _was _playing one of Utada Hikaru's. Hikari didn't realise that there was a female vocalist there.

He stood, her hand in his, and he gently tugged her hand and she stood up.

"Oh, I never knew that. You sure this isn't April Fool?" Hikari joked quietly. He sort of shrugged and then grinned. "Hey I didn't know you could grin…"

"Not funny," he replied back as the dancing couples started to sway in slow-mo…hey, it _was _a sad song _(A/N: If any of you have this song, play it now! It's Hikki's 'Final Distance')_… Takeru silently pulled her closer into a hug and they, too, swayed along with the others, and moved according to the slow rhythm…

He could smell her hair conditioner as she rested her head against his left shoulder. Being taller than any other swaying heads there at the moment, he could spot Catherine's figure sitting at the table (she was one of the few who didn't dance) but he really, really didn't care about his fiancé and the moment. Hikari had been…well, he wasn't really sure, but…she seemed a bit sad. Of course she _was _sad, seeing Catherine right here and all, but she seemed a bit sadder than that — she avoided certain subjects and…well…

Takeru hugged her closer, tighter, and for no reason at all he whispered to her, "It's okay…it's okay…"

He felt her respond — she held him tighter.

He ran a hand softly through her hair and said, "…Is anything the matter…?"

Takeru didn't expect to hear a sob. A _sob! _She was happy a moment ago when they were dancing — what on earth…? She sure was good in hiding whatever she was feeling right now. He tried to look at her but she seemed to be hiding her face. Soon, he felt something wet on his shoulder… She was positively crying now.

"…I don't want her to die," she said in a low voice. Of course when he heard this, the first person he imagined was Catherine, but why wouldn't Hikari want her to die? Even he, Takeru, had secretly wished for Catherine to _die —_ like, go cross the road and hello! There are a few cement trucks there to hit her as she crossed!

"I-I can't lose her, I…I love her…" she sobbed quietly.

Okay, now something's not right. She couldn't be talking about Catherine.

"…And if she dies, I… I don't know what to…what to do," she continued, her voice getting a bit louder. "Taichi won't know what to do either, a-and…and Dad…what'll…what'll happen to Dad…?"

Takeru was frowning now, and he was pretty sure that she was talking about her mother. This must be something quite serious — she didn't say anything to him about this, or to Kumiko or Daisuke (Takeru would've known if she _had _told these two, for these two would sooner or later tell _him), _and she was crying very hard right now, moaning a low, "What am I gonna do…?" on his shoulder.

Slowly, Takeru released her from the hug, but held her close. "C'mon, let's just….calm down and…just — just calm down, kay…?" He looked up and saw that they weren't that far away from the bench they had sat earlier on, and so he made his way towards that bench, holding Hikari close to him.

They moved between swaying couples and finally reached the spot. Hikari sat down and immediately covered her face, crying. Worried sick but knew not of what to do, Takeru kneeled down on the grassy ground to try to get a view of her face.

"…Is this about your mother…?" he asked gently over the soft music. She nodded violently and tried to wipe away tears at the same time. "Why didn't you tell me—?"

"B-because you'd…y-you'd think I… You'd think I'm a… I'm trying to g-get your at-attention or…or some…thing…" she sobbed heavily through her hands. He frowned. "I don't…I don't need y-your sympathy, I — you — you have Catherine to…to take care of a-and I'd…I'd just…"

But Hikari lost it after that. She totally, completely broke down. She leaned forth and Takeru hastily rose up a bit to embrace her. Being a person who was not so good in comforting other people, Takeru quietly patted her on the back and made hushing sounds — the music wasn't that helpful either, for _Final Distance _was a very stressful song (in his opinion).

He let her cried in his arms. He didn't even say a word, and the band began to play a new song (The Beatles' _'I'm Happy Just to Dance with You'). _Some people might've noticed her crying by now, but none came to ask what the matter was. So he held her as she cried, and she cried all the way.

It did seem like forever when her sobs finally stopped, but she remained that way with her head still resting on his shoulder. He gently kissed her on the forehead before letting her go. Her brown eyes were red; her beautiful face was stained with tears and even her nose was a bit red. He carefully wiped away a tear and gently lifted her face so that her eyes met his.

"Hey, hey…it's all right to tell me anything…" He wiped yet another tear and said, "And you did such a great job with the make-up…"

She laughed hoarsely and he smiled before pulling her into a hug again.

"…You know I don't mind, right? I mean…you can tell me anything… Friends share, you know…they share jokes, problems, tears…candies…"

Again, he heard Hikari laughed a bit.

"Besides, you've helped me _a lot _back then, remember? Give me a chance to help you back…"

Hikari took a deep breath, and wiped away the remaining tears. Takeru watched her, just in case she would cry again or something but she didn't. She leaned sideways against him and he did the same.

"She's pregnant," she said suddenly. "Isn't that wonderful…?"

Takeru didn't reply.

"But she's…too old for it… She can die if she insists on having the baby."

"…I see."

Hikari sighed heavily. "I was looking forward to it, you know. Like, I'd finally have a friend! Someone to talk to, at least…"

Takeru didn't quite understand this. "What d'you mean? Surely you, O' Queen of All Desks and Chairs, have friends at school, right?"

The silence that she gave told him that something was horribly, horribly wrong. It wasn't just about her mother, it was more. Slowly, she began talking. She told him about a classmate of hers who told people the wrong story. She told him about the whole school calling her names. She told her how she, for the first time in her whole life, had no friends at all. She even told him about her parents quarrelling — her mother wanted the baby, but obviously her father didn't want that because she could actually _die _if she had the baby. She said she had never seen her father shout that loud before, and it made her feel horrible that she blamed herself for her parents' fight. Takeru understood how it felt — he used to blame himself for everything that happened: the divorce, Yamato's departure to another town…

And she slowly spoke about him and Catherine. How she thought she'd be nothing but trouble to them if she started crying and all, and how she thought he, Takeru, would not have any time to listen to any of her troubles since she was _not _worth listening to.

Takeru suddenly hit her head (but not too hard).

"Ouch…whaa—?"

"I can listen to you even if you kept on talking for a thousand years," he said sternly. "You should've told me earlier…."

She rubbed her head. "…Sorry…"

Takeru exhaled deeply before wrapping an arm around her shoulder, saying, "Hikari, you silly fool… I know we haven't seen each other for a year and I know this Catherine issue is messy, but hey…I wouldn't go and think of you as a pathetic person. Anyway, you don't _have _to win my sympathy. I _care _for you and just in case you don't know yet, I _love _you."

"…Sorry," she said again. He gave her a gentle smile (and he was sure that before he met her, he couldn't produce this kind of smile at all). She smiled back. "Now if you'd excuse me," she said in a happy voice, "I need to go and put on some make-up." She went back to their table and (ignoring Catherine who had been watching since forever) grabbed her hand bag. She walked past Takeru and gave him a wave and mouthed, "Be right back". He nodded and so she went into the rest room.

—X—

Catherine watched her fiancé lining up to get another glass of fruit juice, and when she was sure that he was not looking, she stood up, and quietly made her way towards the rest room nearby. She also kept an eye on their bratty little friends and none of them seemed to realise that she had made a move. She dashed into the women's rest room as quickly as she could when she was sure that no one was watching.

There she was, Hikari Yagami (they were not alone, though. There was a blonde woman there, too). She was staring at her reflection, her face wet. She then wiped her face and slapped it gently several times before rummaging her hand bag. That was when she realised Catherine's presence.

"Oh. Catherine…"

She automatically gave a smile, though it was not a sweet smile. When she said nothing, Hikari began to look uncomfortable.

"You okay?" she asked hesitantly. "You're pale."

"I'm always pale," she said softly. Hikari nodded and gave a low, "Right…" before returning to her task. She began to powder her face lightly, and Catherine had to admit that she was good at it — it looked natural, not overdone or anything. She then applied a little lipstick on her lips and sighed for no reason.

"So was the dancing fun?" Catherine asked, breaking the silence. She was hoping that the silence would make Hikari feel guilty or something, but she didn't. Hikari seemed calm — cool, even.

"Oh yes," smiled the browned haired girl, now repairing her hair. "It's great, you know — seeing your friends again. Especially when you've—"

And then Catherine collapsed, right there and then, and went perfectly still on the floor. Hikari screamed (and the blonde woman went, "Oh my God!") and rushed quickly towards her. The blonde lady did the same.

"Catherine? Catherine? Catherine! Hey, Catherine!"

"Is your friend all right?" the woman asked.

"I don't know!" Hikari replied, panicked.

"What? What happened?" came a voice as one of the cubicle doors swung opened. There stood Nakamura Miharu, and she, too, went pale as she saw Catherine's unconscious figure.

"Miharu! Thank God you're here!"

"Man, I was eavesdropping — what happened?" Miharu asked, kneeling down.

"I don't know, she just — passed out."

"She's going to be okay," the woman said firmly.

"Heh, I was waiting for her to spill the beans," Miharu said, "I mean, c'mon, get _real. _She wanted so much to just strangle you there and then jus now—"

"Miharu! We have to help her!" Hikari said.

"Oh. Do we really have to—?"

"_Miharu!"_

"Okay, okay!"

The blonde woman went out and called for help. She managed to get one of the teachers who came along with them, and people carried Catherine out of the rest room. Takeru stood waiting outside, too, and quickly went towards Hikari as she came out.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know, she just…fainted," Hikari said, and Miharu nodded. "That woman over there helped us," she added, nodding at the woman who was now with her friends.

"Ya," said Miharu. "Anyway, what did you think Catherine was about to tell you? 'Lay off my fiancé', bitch?"

"What? She _said _that?" Takeru asked quickly and sharply.

"No!" Hikari said at once, and glared at Miharu who smiled innocently back at her. "She just…asked about the dance, that's all."

But Takeru still looked unconvinced.

"Oh, come on! If you don't trust me you can ask the blonde lady," Hikari said. And then Mr. Seimaru made his way towards them.

"Takeru, your friend there is very pale and is still unconscious, so we've called ambulance."

"Right…thanks, sir," said Takeru. Mr. Seimaru went away.

"You should call her parents," Hikari said. Once more, Takeru looked a bit; well, uncertain of what to do. "Takeru — Catherine is _not well! _She is _ill, _just call her parents okay?"

His blue eyes met hers. "Yeah. Okay."

His long fingers dialled several numbers on his cell phone, and he spoke in a quiet voice. He hung up after a while.

"Let's just…sit by Catherine," Hikari said gently, and led the way to the bench where Catherine was laid _(A/N: Laid to rest! MUHAHAHA…ok, I was kidding. You guys know I was kidding, right?). _They sat there and shared no words together, but Hikari felt very calm being beside Takeru. She honestly was not bothered about Catherine (even though she _knew _she _should _be worried). She honestly wasn't bothered at all…

The ambulance arrived and Takeru had to go. Hikari said she'd come along, and Miharu, Kumiko, Daisuke, the Blonde Lady and Mr. Seimaru said they would come later that day.

They played 'paper, scissor, stone' in the ambulance in hushed voices, and Takeru owed her a cake and three bottles of fizzy drinks, while she had to treat him dinner tonight if he could come and meet her at the hotel.

Honestly now, Catherine was unconscious and is being submitted to the hospital, and Takeru and Hikari were planning a _date?_

Well…sounds fine to me! XD

* * *

**A/N: **There! Honestly, your reviews sure did encourage me! I'm working on the 23rd chapter now! Find out what Catherine's up to…!

Right now, the hits to this story is **16471 **— I thank you guys for reading this story! Till next time ya…! (View my profile please...! X3)


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…

**A/N: **Twenty-second chapter.

* * *

**To reviewers (right, where to start I wonder…?):**

**Silverknight426, Wish I Could Forget You, Akane Naomi, Puasluoma, Khgirl08, ctk3, initialjs, NatAngel-chan, Drunkenchicken94, Crazy With Happiness, HopeDragon, Ali Muraan, Sunflowers, Shatteredxmemories, DemonSpectre, Animaman, Twilight's Truth, Lovelietta, Shadowtailmon, Lily-potter-the2nd-and1/2, Takeru's Lost Angel, Twinkie TUTUS, Hashkorns, Dragontune172, Nagato Yuki, milkshakelvr, MoD366, Harukichi, sangkun, Lukevader, and Cherry Akira Li (HONESTLY, SO MANY NAMES…):**

Thank you for reading, and I doubt that all of you are still waiting for an update but LOL here it is…

* * *

22. What He Brought That Night

Hikari, Takeru and Miharu were beginning to get bored when finally brisk footsteps were heard and Miss Natsuko, the Leroy couple and Arya Leroy came into view.

All three teenagers stood up. "Takeru — Takeru, my boy, where is she? She's all right?" Mrs. Leroy asked once she reached the tall blonde. Honestly, all the frowns and stares were making Hikari feel uneasy, especially when all the adults seemed to think _she _was the cause of this incident.

"She's still inside, I dunno what's going on," Takeru replied calmly. Mrs. Leroy gave a terrified "Oh!" before turning to look at the door of Catherine's hospital room. She and her husband then went to sit down several seats away. Arya, however, cast the trio a sour look before going away to sit next to her parents.

Now Natsuko was looking at Hikari with a weird expression.

"What, I was there, I saw everything," Miharu said steadily as if she knew everything that was going on in the woman's head. "Go ahead and blame Hikari if you dare."

"There's another woman there with them when it happened too," Takeru spoke. "She's in the cafeteria with Mr. Seimaru right now, you can go ask her about it yourself if you want."

A pause. Natsuko stared at Hikari. Feeling awkward that her friends defended her but she herself did not, Hikari said lamely,

"I didn't do anything."

After giving them a good stare, Natsuko grabbed Hikari's arm and dragged her away, saying, "I need a word with you." The woman began to walk briskly towards the elevator, and Hikari, startled by this act, quickly snatched her bag before being pulled away. She saw Takeru starting towards them but she smiled and mouthed a quick, "S'OK!"

Hikari almost stumbled as Natsuko stopped abruptly in front of the elevator. She pulled her arm away from her and gave a frown. Natsuko did not meet her eyes; instead she folded her arms and stared at the numbers on top of the elevators.

The elevator doors finally pushed opened, and Natsuko said a single word to her: "Inside."

"Who are you, my mother?" Hikari responded, rolling her eyes, but she went inside anyway. No, she was not a rude girl, but if the occasion calls for it, she could be rude too.

But then she felt herself blush a bit — if she were to marry Takeru sometime in the future, Natsuko _would _be her mother-in-law.

No one else was in the elevator. Natsuko pressed the 'ground floor' button as the door closed.

"I was the one who asked Takeru to bring her to the wedding," she said suddenly. "It was not your fault, it was not Takeru's. It was mine."

Hikari frowned. "What _are _you trying to say?"

To her surprise, the lady smiled. "I didn't say anything just now, but your friends already defended you. Kind of surprises me, really…"

Hikari frowned deeper. _"Huh?"_

"Like I said, it's not you fault. Whatever happened to Catherine was not your fault. I believe you — but my mother will arrive in a short while, and I am sure that _she _will think that you're the one who did this. I have a hunch that Arya will blame you too."

Without meaning to, Hikari snorted. "Yea, tell me about it… Err — I mean…!"

Right on cue, the elevator doors swung opened and several people got in. After that, they did not speak to each other at all until they reached the ground floor.

"I need you to go back," Natsuko said. "You'll be in trouble if you stay, and Takeru will be in trouble too. My mother will surely blame you — I'm sure of it…"

Hikari stepped out of the elevator as Natsuko gave her a slight push. She frowned at her. "Are you _shooing _me away?"

Natsuko smiled yet again. "Yes. I am sorry."

"How come you believe in me?" she asked suspiciously.

"He did try to talk to me about you a year ago — which was something really shocking because back then, he was the cold Takeru… But I merely dismissed him."

Hikari frowned, yet again. _"Eh?"_

The elevator door began to shut.

—X—

**I'm1800cmTall:** _(waves)_

**Hika-Hika: **Hi Takeru!

**I'm1800cmTall: **Hey. So, tonight at 7?

**Hika-Hika: **Gee, I wuz thinkin' sumthing along the lines of 'yea Catherine's OK'

**I'm1800cmTall: **yea Catherine's OK

**Hika-Hika: **_(rolls eyes)_

**I'm1800cmTall: **So tonight at 7?

**Hika-Hika: **U're really excited aren't you?

**I'm1800cmTall: **Yea cuz you're paying.

**Hika-Hika: **. . . . . . Fine. Yes, tonight at 7. Ja ne, gtg.

**I'm1800cmTall: **_(waves) _Bye, luv ya.

**Hika-Hika: **Urgh, cheesiness

**I'm1800cmTall: **LOL Erm hey there's something I wanna show you when we get there…

**_Hika-Hika is now offline_**

Takeru sighed, and leaned back against his chair. He ran a hand through his hair, and stared at the single object beside the keyboard.

He sighed again.

—X—

She was, that night, simply the most beautiful in that restaurant. Her brown hair was neatly combed with several of her favourite hairclips clipped on, and although she wore a simple dress, somehow she really did outshine the others. When she saw him, she smiled — and that smile simply melted his heart slowly…slowly…

He smiled back (and little did he knew his smile melted _her _heart away) and made his way towards the table for two. "Waited long?"

She shook her head, and her earrings swayed along. "Nah…"

He sat down, and a waiter approached them.

"Ah," said he, "now that _he _is here…may I take you orders, please?" said the waiter in a professional voice, and the young couple smiled. After ordering what they liked, the waiter went away, leaving them alone at last.

"Hika," Takeru began, straightening up in his seat, "did you get my last message when we chatted today?"

She thought for a while. "Umm, 'bye, love ya'?"

He shook his head slowly. "…No…the one _after _that one."

"No, I logged off," said she, and smiled. "What is it then? You can tell me now."

Takeru looked at her directly in the eyes, and did not do anything at all after that for a few long minutes. This somehow told Hikari that something was up…_something was not quite all right…_ Slowly, her smile wore off.

"…What?" she whispered. Slowly, Takeru took something out of his jacket pocket: a single object that looked like a card. She frowned slightly, and leaned forth to look:

A flight ticket…to France. The first flight tomorrow.

* * *

**A/N: **Hah! I bet you guys thought 'the item next to the keyboard' was an engagement ring! LOL…


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: **Do Not Own…

**A/N: **Twenty-third chapter. **Final chapter**, guys! AAH!

* * *

**FINAL CHAPTER**

* * *

23. Behind the Scene

Hiroaki Ishida grunted in his sleep. The man in his forties frowned as he scratched his chin slightly before turning to his side on the couch for a better position, but it did not help. He simply couldn't get back to sleep.

Now wide-awake, he called out, "Yamato, I _told _you not to give our number to your fans! …Pick up the bloody phone now!"

But he received no answer whatsoever from his eldest son. Getting irritated now, he stood up and checked Yamato's room — he wasn't there. Only then he remembered that the young rock star had a band practice that he had to attend, and had left around an hour ago. Hiroaki groaned as the phone didn't stop ringing.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming — hello, Hiroaki Ishida speaking here, Yamato's not at home, he's more than glad to have a supportive fan such as yourself, his new single won't be out until the next few months, now leave a message or I'll hang up—"

In his mind, Hiroaki was making a note to himself: _"Rule number two in 'If You Wanna Stay in the Band' rules — DO NOT GIVE THE TELEPHONE NUMBER TO FANS!"_ But everything just sort of faded away when he heard a voice that he hadn't heard for quite a long time:

"Hiroaki, hold it for a moment!" said she before laughing. "I didn't know Yama shares so much about his band life with you before — do family members get discounts for the new album, then?"

Hiroaki dropped onto the vacant chair right next to the phone. "Natsuko?"

"Hey… I'm really kinda sorta confused right now and I mean it — _really, really kinda sorta _confused, and…I…_think _you might be able to help me."

O…kaaay… When the strong, I-know-what-to-do Natsuko Takaishi says she's 'really kinda sorta' confused, something must be really kinda sorta wrong somewhere!

—X—

A pale girl opened her eyes and saw a clean and neat room — the smell of antiseptic and several other stuffs told her that she was in a hospital room. She stretched her hands a bit, looked around, and spotted a figure sitting on a chair far away from the bed.

His arms folded, that person was leaning against the chair, watching her with blue, blue, unfathomable blue eyes. By now he should notice that she was already awake, but he did not smile or even come closer to the bed — he merely sat there, staring at her.

Catherine smiled at her fiancé but he remained that way and did not make an effort to even smile back at her. After a few uncomfortable seconds, she looked away — Takeru's blue eyes could be so piercing when he's not in a good mood — and it almost made her blurt out the whole thing, every detail of The Plan…

"…Umm, hey, Takeru," she said at last, meeting his eyes once more.

No reply.

"Where's…everyone else?"

He stared at her for a second. "Outside," came the usual short reply.

"Oh…huh," she smiled a bit, trying to play innocent. "Erm, why aren't _you _outside? I thought you hate to stay in one place, doing nothing—"

"—Well, aren't you _glad _that I'm here?" he suddenly snapped. Catherine was quite taken aback. Sure, she had seen Takeru in his bad mood before, but he had never shown his anger at her before…not like this. The relationship that they shared was so neutral, so uneventful, so…so… — so _formal. _There was this for-the-sake-of-their-families thing going on between them, and Catherine didn't see it changing any time sooner…

"Your parents asked me to stay," he suddenly said. "And watch over you." He looked as if he wanted to add, "Not that you need any watching over, anyway…"

No. No, no, no — that was just her thoughts — he didn't know about it, and he wouldn't know about it if she kept on acting…

"Where are they? Where are my parents?"

He looked away from her. "With the doctor."

She nodded a bit, mouthing an 'O'.

"…Discussing about _your conditions."_

Catherine tried so hard not to look at his face with a panicked frown as he said those words. Her stomach did a violent flip.

_"Oh my god…he knew."_

"Is my sister here?" she asked, changing the subject. It was always good to know whether or not she had a back up.

"Bathroom," he answered shortly.

"What about your mother?"

"Somewhere. The cafeteria, maybe."

"Your grandmother, then?"

His eyes snapped back to stare at hers, as if he had heard what he was waiting to hear.

"_Oh, crap — Catherine , you're such an idiot!"_ But it was too late to take back her words — and she couldn't ruin the plan, not now, not when everything had went according to plan. _"Keep it calm…"_

"Whoever told you my grandmother's coming?" he asked, calmly but coldly so, with his eyebrows raised. She avoided his eyes once more. He mustn't know about The Plan…he _mustn't._

She smiled. "Ehehe…I was just saying, you know, she's always so worried about me… I can guess if she's coming to visit me or—"

"She's on a holiday in Hokkaido, what makes you think she'll come all the way here _just because you fainted?"_ he asked, his voice as cold as steel. She played innocent by merely shrugging. After a few minutes of silence, Takeru spoke again:

"The doctor."

Catherine waited.

"He's your father's brother — your uncle, right?"

She nodded, and he looked into her eyes intently.

He knew.

Finally, Takeru stood up. He'd heard everything that he wanted to hear… He walked towards the bed, looked at her for a while, and then pushed back her fringe gently off her forehead. His touch seemed so gentle, so tender — and yet his eyes were…

"…I can add two and two, Catherine ," he said, nearly in a whisper. He retreated a few steps back. "And I've noticed things. For example, they say you have a fever — but you're not burning up at all."

Oh, god. For the first time, Catherine was somehow thankful that she was pale; for she was sure she could've turned even paler there and then.

"Send my regards to the Masterminds," he said, very, very calmly. They stared at each other for a while, and then he turned, opened the door, and left.

Soon after, Arya Leroy entered.

"Oh, Catherine darling, you're awake at last!" she said as she came towards the bed to hug her. "I saw Takeru on the way here. Did you two chat?"

Catherine just nodded. "Onechan…he knows. He knows, I know he knows!"

Arya frowned as she sat on the bad. "Knows? About The Plan?"

Catherine nodded vigorously. "He asked me about Uncle Allen — and I accidentally asked about Mrs. Takaishi! Onechan, really—!"

"Shh, shh, shh — calm down for a bit!" Arya said, holding up her hands. "Now…did he say to you that he knows about this plan?"

"He says he could tell — and he's right, I'm supposed to have a fever but I'm not burning up! He felt my forehead just now and he — he…!"

"Calm down," Arya said again. "He has nothing to prove this at all, Catherine! Okay, so what if he knows that Uncle Allen is our uncle _and _your doctor?"

"It means he knows that Uncle Allen is apart of this!"

"But he doesn't know about the pill! Catherine — what proof does he have, hmm? What, is he going to say that you _purposefully_ fainted? How can someone _purposefully faint? _Plus, you are a great actor, even that Yagami's friends believed that you fainted for real!"

"…Well…I _did_ faint — the pill, remember?"

Arya grinned and slapped her forehead a bit. "Oh, yes. I forgot about that… That's also why I'm here; Uncle Allen's asked me to ask you if you're feeling all right. Well, are you all right, honey? That pill Uncle Allen made was supposed to make you faint, but who knows if it has any side effects… Well, so?"

"I'm feeling fine, really," Catherine said. "But…about Takeru…"

Arya sat up straighter. "Okay, listen here, Catherine ," she began, looking at her in the eyes. "The wedding thing — the reunion or whatever — _that _happened coincidentally. Their teacher got married and hey, hey, whaddaya know, that Yagami bitch actually came trotting back to Takeru! It should've been a bad thing, but no. Miss Takaishi asked him to bring you along — and _that _also happened coincidentally. She actually gave you — gave _us — _the chance to carry out this Plan! And it was carried out perfectly — the Fainting Pill worked, you fainted for a while, made everyone worried sick, and Uncle Allen's going to lie to Miss Takaishi and Takeru about you going to France for further treatment — but everything's a lie, and yet who has to know about it other than us? No one!"

Upon seeing Catherine's unsure face, Arya added, "Even if Takeru knows about all this, he cannot fight back — come on! We all know that he won't stand a chance against Mrs. Takaishi, and there's no way Miss Takaishi's going to go against her mother's words… Our plan is working, Rina."

Slowly, Catherine nodded. "Okay… Okay, so…" She suddenly smiled with glee. "We're off to France after this, right? Right? Right?"

Arya beamed. "Yep! Off to France, my dear, because — oh, what was it again?"

The two sisters smiled and chorused:

" 'Catherine's condition is getting serious, she _has _to go to France for advanced treatment!'"

Arya pretended to look worried. " 'But — is that the only way, Doctor Leroy?'"

" 'Why yes'," said Catherine , her mood definitely brighter now, " 'I'm afraid she MUST go to France — ooh, gosh, like, she needs to go there immediately! We shall not delay this!'"

" 'For how long, Dr. Leroy?'" Arya pretended to ask.

Catherine giggled. "… 'For as long as it takes for Catherine to get better, for as long as it takes for that Hikari bitch to forget him — let's say, _forever!_

—X—

"Well then! May I ask you, what is it that you're really kinda sorta confused about, Natsuko?" asked Hiroaki's voice over the phone. Natsuko couldn't help but laughed a bit. She paced around the corner of the cafeteria, choosing her words as she did so.

"Okay," she began, "we're moving to France — Takeru and I."

There was a pause. She had half expected Hiroaki to say that he was not affected by this news, and that he wouldn't even give a damn about it.

"…Right… All right, so now we know that Yamato has more reasons to dislike you — despite his true emotions…he really misses you nowadays, actually," he replied. "And, uh, you'll be missed. And I'll miss Takeru a lot — I mean, having Yamato going out almost every day and coming home late is enough to make me worried sick, imagine what it'll do to me when Takeru's living halfway a cross the globe from me?"

Here, he laughed bitterly. When she did not speak, he hesitantly asked:

"I do believe there's a reason behind this? And you're telling me about this, so…"

He didn't finish his sentence. He was asking _her _to do so. Natsuko sighed deeply, and walked towards a vacant table and sat there. "Oh, Hiroaki, I don't know… I'm just — just so…so… I dunno, I'm so…"

"It's your mother, isn't it?" he said, very gently, in that caring voice of his. "And the engagement?"

"Yeah — and I'm not sure about this, it's — it's like — like…"

Suddenly, her ex-husband laughed. "You're a grown woman, Natsuko, and Takeru's _our _son! I mean, yeah, Takeru is your mother's grandson and all, but — oh, come _on! _Mother and grandmother, who d'you _seriously _think has the right over that boy?"

He was not being sarcastic. He was simply amused, she could tell, by her childishness. He was simply there, again, to give her simple solutions to her simple-turned-difficult problems… He was…as always…being the simple man that had managed to win her heart…

"Natsuko, listen — I was okay with the engagement before because Takeru seemed okay about it too. But everyone can see that he clearly loves Hikari Yagami now, I'm sure you know that, right? And I dunno what's up with your mother…ever since Takeru met Hikari; she's been acting as if she's battling to win a war…or something…"

She didn't say anything. Was he really okay with that engagement before? She didn't know…

"…Were you really okay with that engagement before…Hiroaki?" she asked silently. "Were you?"

She heard him sighed quietly. Sure, their children might know that she was once betrothed to another man instead of Hiroaki Ishida, but neither of them knew who that other man was… They didn't need to know it, anyway…

"Were you really OK about Takeru getting engaged to _his _niece before, Hiroaki?"

—X—

"Ah, Natsuko — we meet again!"

Takeru watched as his mother bowed politely to the doctor, who did the same. He did the same, too.

"Allen," he mother said, smiling as she straightened up. The doctor smiled warmly. "So, uh — how's Catherine ? Is she going to be all right?"

"Oh, I know my niece, she's a strong one — just like her mother," said Dr. Allen Leroy, patting Mrs. Leroy's shoulder affectionately.

"So…so she's off to France for further treatment?" Natsuko asked, as if wanting conformation. Dr. Leroy nodded.

Takeru quickly looked at the doctor, and then at the Leroys, before finally looking at his mother. No one had told him anything about Catherine going to France…!

"How long will it take? How long will the treatment take?" Mrs. Leroy asked, grasping her brother's arm tightly. Dr. Leroy looked down at the floor, sighing.

"For as long as it takes for her to get better."

"But she only has a _fever, _what d'you mean she's going to France?" Takeru asked loudly, his heart thumping fast.

"Takeru," his mother said warningly. "Catherine needs this treatment…"

"Well, we should go in and check how she's doing," Dr. Leroy said, smiling. After bowing at each other, Mr and Mrs Leroy and Dr. Leroy went inside Catherine's hospital room.

Takeru and his mother stood there for a while, and then Natsuko took Takeru by the hand and led the way to the elevator.

"Takeru, dear," she said, "about Catherine going to France…"

He waited.

"You grandmother thinks it's best if we go, too."

The elevator door swung open, and Takeru observed his mother closely. "You're joking." The woman said nothing as she pressed the 'ground floor' button. "Mum, you're joking, _right?"_

"It's decided. We're leaving tomorrow, the first flight—"

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" Takeru bellowed, making Natsuko jump a bit. She then pressed her hands against her chest as she stared, wide-eyed, at her son. "CAN'T YOU AT _LEAST _TALK TO ME BEFORE DECIDING THINGS FOR MY FUTURE? I MEAN, WHAT THE HELL — _FRANCE! _AND WHAT'S ALL THIS 'FOR AS LONG AS IT TAKES' CRAP? MUM, SHE'S ONLY GOT A _FEVER, _AND THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN SHE'S GOING TO FRANCE?"

He was looking at her with very angry eyes right now.

"Everything's been decided!" Natsuko said.

"OH YEAH, BY WHO? _GRANDMA? _WHO IS SHE AGAIN, KAMI-SAMA OR SOMETHING?"

"Takeru! It's been decided by the _doctor—!"_

They'd finally reached the ground floor, and Takeru thundered out of the elevator.

"GEE, I'VE NEVER EVEN _HEARD _CATHERINE'S DOCTORS MENTION ANYTHING ABOUT A TREATMENT IN FRANCE BEFORE, ISN'T IT JUST _WEIRD _THAT ONLY WHEN _HER UNCLE _IS HER DOCTOR THAT WE HEAR ALL THIS FRANCE CRAP, HUH?"

"I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE TAUGHT MY SONS TO SHOUT AT ME!" Natsuko screamed back as she walked quickly to catch up with her son. Everyone was rooted at their spot, be it doctors, patients or visitors, as they watched the fight between mother and son.

"AND I HAVE _NEVER _RAISED MY VOICE TO YOU BEFORE, D'YOU HONESTLY THINK I _LIKE_ DOING THIS?" Takeru shouted back. Natsuko stopped in her tracks, but Takeru didn't. He thundered out of the hospital's main entrance, and Natsuko just watched him go…just like that. Not long after that, tears began to form in her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away.

Reaching for her phone, she dialled Hiroaki Ishida's number again.

—X—

"Ah, here she is, our little shining star!"

Everyone in the room clapped, and Catherine beamed. "So, we're really going to France?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, dear," said her mother, and Catherine and Arya squealed happily.

"Well then! Now that everything's taken care of…why don't we inform Mrs. Takaishi?" said Dr. Leroy. He had been smiling widely all the time. Mr and Mrs. Leroy and the two girls agreed, and so Dr. Leroy took out his phone and dialled a specific number. "Ah, yes…Mrs. Takaishi! Yes. Yes, indeed." His smile widened, if ever that was possible, seeing that it was already so wide. "Thank you. Yes, we will. All right, goodbye."

With that, he beamed at everyone in the room.

"She congratulates us, and wishes you a safe flight tomorrow morning," he simply said.

And everyone laughed.

—X—

**I'm1800cmTall: **_(waves)_

**Hika-Hika: **Hi Takeru!

**I'm1800cmTall: **Hey. So, tonight at 7?

**Hika-Hika: **Gee, I wuz thinkin' something along the lines of 'yea Catherine's OK'

**I'm1800cmTall: **yea Catherine's OK

**Hika-Hika: _(rolls eyes)_**

**I'm1800cmTall: **So tonight at 7?

**Hika-Hika: **U're really excited aren't you?

**I'm1800cmTall: **Yea cuz you're paying.

**Hika-Hika: **. . . . . . Fine. Yes, tonight at 7. Ja ne, gtg.

Takeru sighed, and typed,

**I'm1800cmTall: **_(waves) _Bye, luv ya.

**Hika-Hika: **Urgh, cheesiness.

He laughed a but, but later sighed, He was hoping to tell Hikari about him moving to France online, before they go for their dinner…but…could she take the news? Takeru's long fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment, and then he typed something before jabbing 'enter', the 'send' button.

**I'm1800cmTall: **LOL erm hey there's something I wanna show you when we get there…

Hikari's messaged popped out seconds after his appeared on the screen.

**_Hika-Hika is now offline._**

He stared at that sentence on the screen for several long minutes, and then at the cursed ticket next to the keyboard. His mother and Mrs. Leroy had went to purchase the ticket some time earlier, and his mother had wordlessly placed his ticket there on the table while he was taking a shower.

Groaning, he got up and threw himself onto the bed.

"This is going to be one hell of a dinner," he told himself. He was sure that Hikari had heard gone through a lot — first it was him telling her that he was engaged to someone else, and then she was slapped across the face — she was _humiliated —_ by his good-for-thing grandmother in a packed indoor basketball court, and then even in her new hometown, she was alienated because some stupid girl misinterpreted her story… She already had too much in her head right now, and adding one more problem could actually make it explode…

But what else could he do?

—X—

_(A/N: And now, back to where I left you guys in the previous chapter)._

She leaned closer to have a good look at the item he had just took out of his jacket pocket — he watched her as her brown eyes read the words on the ticket. He waited.

"…A flight ticket to France?" She looked up, looking slightly puzzled and yet beautifully so. "What…?"

"Just — let's just…wait for the main course, at least, okay?" he said rather quickly, regretting his actions of showing her the ticket a little too soon.

"No, _tell me," _she insisted, her eyes growing wide with worry.

He sighed deeply. He could no longer contain it, anyway. "I have to pack tonight."

She could already guess it, for she grew a bit pale. "No — _no way, _you're joking," she said laughingly before taking a sip out of her glass.

"…I'm not. I'm leaving Japan tomorrow. I'm moving to France."

Looking at her eyes alone was enough to make him bleed to death — that pained look of hers…

"You're leaving?"

He nodded a tiny nod.

"To France?"

He didn't answer.

"You're moving to France? _France?"_

"Yeah. Tomorrow morning…"

"And — what about me?" she asked, her eyes getting weirdly shiny.

He couldn't look at her anymore.

"That's it, isn't it?" she whispered, standing up and grabbing her coat and small hand bag. "I've asked you this question before, haven't I? _What am I supposed to do when your grandmother forced you to marry Catherine in front of the whole of Japan? __**What am I supposed to do, Takeru Takaishi?"**_

"You'll have to listen to me," he said carefully, making eye contact with her. "I don't want to go, but it's my grandmother and the Leory family, they've—!"

"It's _always _your grandmother, isn't it?" she said accusingly.

"No, it's _not _an excuse! No — no, no, no, no — no, Hikari, listen to me first, please," he begged, grabbing her wrist quickly as she began to walk away. With surprising strength, she pulled away from his grasp and went, with surprising speed, towards the glass doors.

Things had just went from bad to worse.

"Oh crap — Hikari! Hikari, _please _listen to me — look, I've got a pair of new shoes for you, I'm no longer a Shoe washer, am I now? Hikari please, I'm begging you to just — _urgh!"_

Leaving his things behind, Takeru went out of the restaurant too. The dining district was packed with lovers, families and friends going out for dinner. Hikari was a small person, and it was easy for her to slip in between those people — but Takeru was a tall one, and this made it hard for him to chase her.

"Hikari Yagami, just hold on for a moment!"

"HELP!" she suddenly screamed. "I don't know this guy, he's tailing me!"

The crowd literally froze for while, giving Hikari the chance to slip away from him.

"No — WAIT! HIKARI, YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO ME — _LISTEN TO ME FIRST! _I DIDN'T PLAN ALL THIS, IT WASN'T—!"

But she didn't turn back at all. He started to go forward to chase after her, but a few men - complete strangers who were out to dine - stopped him.

"See here, boy..."

"Now now, let's not cause any trouble, okay?"

Takeru could only watch as Hikari disappeared into a cab. He didn't have much time - he MUST let her see some sense.

Thinking fast, Takeru took out his phone and dialled his brother's number.

"Niisan. Yeah. Listen - I need your help."

-X-

Takeru had to wait for about ten minutes or so for Yamato to fetch him. His insides lurched as he saw his dad's van skidding into a halt in front of him. Quickly, Takeru entered the vehicle and slammed the door shut.

"Where _were _you?" he demanded, putting the seatbelt on as Yamato started to drive.

"You're welcome, it's no biggie, I'm _such _a good brother, I didn't mind leaving my dinner behind just to fetch my little bro," Yamato returned sarcastically. Takeru rolled his eyes, but did not say anything. "So? Did you tell her?"

"Yeah."

"And how did sh—?"

"How did you _think _it went?" he snapped back. "God, I'm such an idiot...!"

He expected Yamato to comment on this or make fun of him, but he didn't (which Takeru found to be extremely helpful, in a way). He groaned and banged his head against the headrest of the seat several times, muttering, "Idiot, idiot, _idiot!"_ all the time. His brother didn't say anything, but kept on driving. When Takeru opened his eyes, however, he began to frown.

"This isn't the way to the hotel," he said quickly, looking around.

"I know," said Yamato.

"Well - turn back, we're going to the-"

"No we're not," his brother said shortly. "We're going home - you don't have a lot of time."

"Which is _exactly _why I need to see her now!" he half-shouted. Yamato said nothing as he took the junction that would lead them to the Takaishi's apartment.

"Just trust me on this one," Yamato said, rather mysteriously, as he dragged Takeru into the elevator. He violently shrugged his brother's hand off, but Yamato remained calm. Hands in the air to indicate surrender, he said, "Cool it, Teeks. You'll see her again - but we must hurry!"

"What the _hell?"_

The elevator doors slid open, and once again, Yamato half-dragged him out of it and towards the apartment. "Get in," Yamato said, shoving him through the door before closing and locking it quickly. The first person Takeru saw was his mother, who rose from her chair the moment her sons walked in. She looked extremely white.

"Are you happy now?" Takeru spat, glaring at her.

"Takeru-"

"And what's this? You're on Obachan's side, too?" he went on, turning around to glare at his brother.

"Listen," his mother said gently, touching his shoulders, "honey..."

_"Don't touch me!"_ Takeru shouted.

"Takeru Takaishi!" came a new voice - a man's voice. "Don't shout at your mother like that!"

It was his father.

Slowly, Takeru looked at Yamato, and then at his parents. Why was his father here? They were leaving for France the first thing tomorrow morning - but why were Yamato and his father here?

"What's going on?" he asked slowly, looking at his father.

"This is what families do," said Mr. Ishida, "we help each other out. Now, sit down and listen!"

Takeru sat down with the rest of his family, and that night was indeed one hell of a night as his father revealed his plans.

* * *

**A/N: **Will Takeru be able to convince Hikari that he loved her? Will the Leroys and Obachan succeed in separating the two? What exactly did Mr. Ishida have up his sleeve? Find out in the new exciting sequel, _Hello Again - _or wait, is it called _We Meet Again?_ Or...meh. I'm not sure what the sequel's called...hmm. Suggestions? XD

Thank you so much to you guys for lending your precious time to read this little fanfic of mine. Without you guys, I won't be writing this! :'D

**For those of you who didn't get the memo**, I have decided to split this fanfic into two parts. It used to have thirty-six chapters, and I thought that it was getting too long, hence the decision to split it. I know that some of you already know what happens after this, but please, do stay tune, because there will be slight changes in the plot.

If you reread _Coincidence or Destiny _then you will also notice that I have changed the name of Takeru's fiancé from **Rina Sakazaki** to **Catherine Leroy **(yes, _the _Catherine from Digimon 02). This is my attempt to reduce the amount of OCs (original characters) in this fanfic, to focus more on Digimon characters. So don't be surprised or confused when I refer to Takeru's fiancé as Catherine instead of Rina in the sequel, yeah? :)

I believe that's pretty much it! See you guys in the sequel soooooooon~ XD


End file.
